Chapter 7: VII

VII I “What a relief,” sighed Mrs. Stapleton. “I thought we had lost him.” The three were sitting once again in Lady Laura’s drawing room soon after lunch. Mr. Vincent had just looked in with Laurie’s note to give the news. It was a heavy fog outside, woolly in texture and orange in color, and the tall windows seemed opaque in the lamplight; the room, by contrast, appeared a safe and pleasant refuge from the reek and stinging vapor of the street. Mrs. Stapleton had been lunching …