visit.

Luckily Agnes was alone when the lady arrived, as Garvington and his
wife were both out enjoying themselves in their several ways. The pair
had been staying with the wealthy widow for Christmas, and had not yet
taken their departure, since Garvington always tried to live at
somebody's expense if possible. He had naturally shut up The Manor
during the festive season, as the villagers expected coals and blankets
and port wine and plum-puddings, which he had neither the money nor the
inclination to supply. In fact, the greedy little man considered that
they should ask for nothing and pay larger rents than they did. By
deserting them when peace on earth and goodwill to men prevailed, or
ought to have prevailed, he disappointed them greatly and chuckled over
their lamentations. Garvington was very human in some ways.

However, both the corpulent little lord and his untidy wife were out
of the way when Miss Greeby was announced, and Agnes was thankful that
such was the case, since the interview was bound to be an important one.
Miss Greeby, as usual, looked large and aggressively healthy, bouncing
into the room like an india-rubber ball. Her town dress differed very
little from the garb she wore in the country, save that she had a
feather-trimmed hat instead of a man's cap, and carried an umbrella in
place of a bludgeon. A smile, which showed all her strong white teeth in
a somewhat carnivorous way, overspread her face as she shook hands
vigorously with her hostess. And Miss Greeby's grip was so friendly as
to be positively painful.

"Here you are, Agnes, and here am I. Beastly day, ain't it? Rain and
rain and rain again. Seems as though we'd gone back to Father Noah's
times, don't it?"

"I expected you before, Clara," remarked Lady Agnes rather hurriedly,
and too full of anxiety to discuss the weather.

"Well, I intended to come before," confessed Miss Greeby candidly.
"Only, one thing and another prevented me!" Agnes noticed that she did
not specify the hindrances. "It was the deuce's own job to get that
letter. Oh, by the way, I suppose Lambert told you about the letter?"

"Mr. Silver told me about it, and I told Noel," responded Agnes gravely.
"I also heard about your interview with--"

"Oh, that's ages ago, long before Christmas. I should have gone and seen
him, to tell about my experiences at the gypsy camp, but I thought that
I would learn more before making my report as a detective. By the way,
how is