The little group of maidservants, who had been exchanging whispered confidences as to their new master's appearance, were suddenly dumb.

All eyes were turned in one direction.

A woman whose advent had been unperceived, but who had evidently issued from one of the recesses of the hall, stood suddenly before them all.

She was as thin as a lath, dressed in severe black, with grey hair brushed back from her head and not even a white collar at her neck.

Her face was long and narrow, her features curiously large, her eyes filled with anger.