"The house has been like a mausoleum without you.

But I've no reproaches.

Youth to youth,--it's right and proper." And he led her into the lofty hall with his arm round her shoulder.
There was a sinister grin on Gleave's poacher-like face when Joan gave him a friendly nod.

And it was with a momentary spasm of uneasiness that she asked herself what he and her grandmother knew.

It was evident that they had something up their sleeves.