She was then within about six
weeks of her confinement, and very unfit to bear harsh answers
from anybody--least of all from her husband.
On the second day no answer came. On the afternoon of the third,
the baron rode off to the post town to make inquiries. About an
hour after he had gone, a strange gentleman came to the Grange
and asked to see the baroness. On being informed that she was
not well enough to receive visitors, he sent up a message that
his business was of great importance and that he would wait
downstairs for a second answer.
On receiving this message, Rosamond turned, as usual, to her
elder sister for advice. Ida went downstairs immediately to see
the stranger. What I am now about to tell you of the
extraordinary interview which took place between them, and of the
shocking events that followed it, I have heard from Miss Welwyn's
own lips.
She felt unaccountably nervous when she entered the room. The
stranger bowed very politely, and asked, in a foreign accent, if
she were the Baroness Franval. She set him right on this point,
and told him she attended to all matters of business for the
baroness; adding that, if his errand at all concerned her
sister's husband, the baron was not then at home.
The stranger answered that he was aware of it when he called, and
that the unpleasant business on which he came could not be
confided to the baron--at least, in the first instance.
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