sunrays struck
through a window looking to the south-west and fell in long bright bars
on polished floor and sombre panelling. On entering the gallery,
Challoner took out a case of miniatures and placing it on a small table
brought a chair for Mrs. Keith.

"You know the pictures, but this collection generally interested you,
and I have added a few examples of a good French period since you were
last here," he said.

Mrs. Keith sat down. She was fond of miniatures, and though she would
have preferred to accompany her host she had kept him away from Mrs.
Chudleigh since their arrival and thought she must be content with
that. She seldom overdid anything and had no wish to make her object
too plain; Geoffrey Challoner was by no means a fool. As she expected,
Mrs. Chudleigh found an opportunity of joining him after a time and
diverted his attention from Mrs. Foster, who left him to talk to his
sister. Mrs. Keith watched the manoeuvre, which was cleverly carried
out, with ironical amusement, though she was troubled by a faint
uneasiness. She felt that her old friend was threatened, but she could
not see where the danger lay, and, sitting with the miniatures before
her, she tried to formulate her suspicions.

In the first place, she had unwisely given Mrs. Chudleigh to understand
that it was doubtful whether Richard Blake had merited his disgrace.
Then the former had met Lieutenant Walters, who had fought in the
frontier action, and had gained his confidence. It was possible that
she had led him on to talk about the affair with injudicious freedom,
and now she had met Greythorpe and seemed desirous of cultivating his
acquaintance. All this had an ominous look, because the woman was
ambitious and scheming, besides being in love with Sedgwick, who was
something of an adventurer. She would no doubt seize upon any
opportunity of securing his promotion.

Margaret's Keith's suspicions were justified, for Mrs. Chudleigh was
then cleverly clearing the ground for future action. She had some
knowledge of art and the row of family portraits, hung between suits of
armour and trophies of Eastern weapons, interested her, while Challoner
was gratified by the way she listened as he spoke of them. One or two
were by well-known artists, and the faces of the old Challoners, some
of whom wore wigs and rich court dress, and some obsolete uniforms,
fixed her attention. The resemblance between them all was
recognizable, and she tho