Then he bowed to my father, and followed Mrs.Martindale, who had moved to the door.
Nearly an hour afterwards my father sent a servant to tell him to come to the study.

My mother was there, too, and I had gone back with her.

The man came back and said: "Mrs.Martindale, sir, wishes to know, with her respectful service, if she may have a word with you." Before father could reply mother told him to bring her.

The housekeeper could not have been far off--that kind are generally near a keyhole--for she came at once.

When she came in, she stood at the door curtseying and looking pale.