CHAPTER XIV
WHAT SILAS PENCE KNEWOn that same evening, when Cyril was interviewing the strange n***o, there was a concert in the Marshely school-house in aid of the prize fund. Dora had arranged the programme, and had asked Bella to be present. The girl would much rather have remained absent owing to the recent death of her father; besides, she did not feel able to enjoy music and frivolity and laughter. But to please her friend, who had been so kind to her, she came dressed in black and deeply veiled to the festival. For obvious reasons she took a seat at the lower end of the room, and near the door, so that she could easily slip out when the end came.
But Mrs. Vand was less retiring. In spite of her brother’s tragic death she appeared dressed In all the colours of the rainbow, posing m
