truther sternly.
"What is this girl doing here, and where is my granddaughter? Do you
really mean to say," he added, "that Margaret has not been here at all?
What is your name, and what are you doing masquerading here in hers?"

Though Mr. Anstruther in his anger had spoken loudly, he had not used the
tone of voice suited to a deaf person, and it was pitiful to see the
anxious way in which Mrs. Murray looked from one to the other, striving
to hear what was said. So realising that the kindest thing she could do
for her now was to tell her story quickly and not allow Mr. Anstruther to
drag it from her by means of questions which Mrs. Murray could not hear,
Eleanor knelt down by her chair and put her lips close to her ear.

"Shall I tell you everything from the beginning?" she said. "I can do it
quickly. My name is Eleanor Carson, and on the 28th of July I was on my
way from London to Seabourne to take up a position as holiday governess
there, which had been offered to me for the summer holidays. I had to
wait at Carden Junction for over an hour and a half, and as I was sitting
in the waiting-room a girl came in. We began to talk presently, and she
told me her name was Margaret Anstruther and that she was on her way to
Windy Gap to stay with a Mrs. Murray, an old friend of her grandfather's,
and she was to spend the summer learning Italian and having singing
lessons with Madame Martelli. I envied her from the bottom of my heart,
and said I wished I was in her shoes, and she said she wished she were in
mine. And so in the end we decided to change. She became Eleanor Carson
and went on to The Cedars, and I became Margaret Anstruther, and came
here."

"The audacity, the unparalleled insolence, the unheard-of irregularity of
the whole proceeding astounds me!" said Mr. Anstruther. "And where is my
granddaughter now?"

"She is still with Mrs. Danvers at a house called The Cedars, Durham
Road, Seabourne," said Eleanor.

"And you mean to say, Charlotte," Mr. Anstruther said loudly, "that you
had no idea of the deception that had been practiced on you?"

"No, indeed, how could I have?" said Mrs. Murray, who still seemed almost
overpowered by the astonishing revelation that had been made to her. "You
must remember that I had never seen your granddaughter, so how could I
know?"

"Of your share in this disgraceful business it is not necessary to
speak," said Mr. Anstruther, giving Eleanor a glance of the very
strongest disappr