"This is my niece," announced Bent with a grim smile. "Ethel, this is a friend of mine, Mr. Gauntry, to whom you posted a letter for me the other day."
"I don't remember," smiled the girl, as she came forward and shyly took the hand which Gauntry held out.
Gauntry took her in well and frowned slightly. She was certainly attractive and certainly, also--the thought for some reason made him uneasy--no fool. Her face was intelligent and brimful of common sense.
"Well, Miss Bannister, and how do you like living here?" he asked.
"It's very lonely," she replied hesitatingly. She glanced at Bent. "But I promised Uncle I'd stop for six months."
"And after that?" asked Gauntry with a smile.
"I think I shall go to London and train to be a nurse."
"And then what about me?" asked Bent jovially.
