For some years she had kept house for her widowed brother, Colonel Winwood, Conservative Member for the Division of the county in which they resided, and helped him efficiently in his political work.

The little township of Morebury--half a mile from the great gates of Drane's Court--felt Miss Winwood's control in diverse ways.

Another town, a little further off, with five or six millions of inhabitants, was also, through its newspapers, aware of Miss Winwood.
Many leagues, societies, associations, claimed her as President, Vice-President, or Member of Council.

She had sat on Royal Commissions.
Her name under an appeal for charity guaranteed the deserts of the beneficiaries.

What she did not know about housing problems, factory acts, female prisons, hospitals, asylums for the blind, decayed gentlewomen, sweated trades, dogs' homes and Friendly Societies could not be considered in the light of knowledge.