ack. It had made up its mind that James
Hutchings was a pariah to be shunned. It was not only taken aback, it was
annoyed. It had no wish that its belief that James Hutchings had
murdered Lord Loudwater should be in any way unsettled.

Mrs. Roper, the mother of William Roper and a lifelong enemy of the
Hutchings family, summed up the feeling of her neighbours about the
behaviour of James Hutchings and Elizabeth.

"Brazen, I call it," she said bitterly.

Before they reached the Castle, Elizabeth had come to feel that during
the last three days James Hutchings had changed greatly, and for the
better. She had an odd fancy that murdering his master had improved his
character; the fear of the police had softened him. Not once did he try
to domineer over her. That domineering had been the source of their not
infrequent quarrels, for she was not at all of a temper to endure it.

Olivia and Grey had again spent their afternoon in the pavilion in the
East wood. Their bearing at times had been oddly like that of Elizabeth
and James Hutchings. Now and again they had lapsed from their absorption
in one another into a like fearfulness. But, unlike Elizabeth and James
Hutchings, neither of them said a word about the murder of Lord
Loudwater. But both of them seemed a little less under a strain than they
had been. This new factor of a quarrel with an unknown woman seemed to
open a loophole. Olivia's colouring had lost some of its warmth; the
contours of her face were less rounded. Grey had manifestly taken a step
backwards in his convalescence; his face was thinner, even a little
haggard; there was a somewhat strained watchfulness in his eyes.

They could not tear themselves away from the pavilion till the last
moment, and he walked back with her as far as the shrubbery on the edge
of the East lawn, and there they parted after she had promised to meet
him there that evening at nine.

As Olivia came into her sitting-room Elizabeth and James Hatchings came
to the back door of the Castle. She did not say good-bye at once; of set
purpose, she lingered talking to him that the other servants might
understand clearly that her attitude to him was definitely fixed.

But at last she held out her hand and said: "I must be getting along to
her ladyship, or she'll be waiting for me."

James Hutchings looked round, considered the coast sufficiently clear,
caught her to him, kissed her, and said huskily: "You're just a
ministering angel, Liz