CHAPTER XVI
The day of Lady Hereward's death, the wife of the vicar at Riding St. Mary invited Miss Verney to make her a short visit. Those were the exact words used: a "short visit."
It was not comme il faut that a girl like Nora Verney should remain in the house alone with a comparatively young man, like Sir Ian Hereward, now that her "occupation was gone," and the lady, whose paid companion the girl had been, was dead.
Mrs. Haynes was a kind, if extremely conventional woman; but she was middle-aged, and looked years older than her slim, attractive husband the vicar, who was almost too soft-hearted where women were concerned; and naturally it was not expedient to keep such a beauty as Miss Verney too long under the same roof with such an admirer of beauty. Nora knew from the beginning that she could not remain many days at the vicarage, even if she wished to do so, which she did not. And after the second inquest, she could not help noticing a difference in her hostess's manner. Who would like to have as a guest a young person about whom all the world was talking, and at least half the world blaming?
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