The distress of Mr.and Mrs.Fyne--especially of Mrs.Fyne--was so great that they would have shared it with anybody almost--not belonging to their circle of friends.

I happened to be at hand--that was all.
"You understand that I am not their friend.

I am only a holiday acquaintance." "She was not very much upset ?" queried Flora de Barral, meaning, of course, Mrs.Fyne.

And I admitted that she was less so than her husband--and even less than myself.

Mrs.Fyne was a very self-possessed person which nothing could startle out of her extreme theoretical position.