FIFTEENRandal March drew up at Willow Cottage at a little after half-past three on the following afternoon, whereupon Miss Silver came out of the front door in her black cloth coat and the new hat which she had intended to wear for the wedding. After an unbroken succession of black felts trimmed with ribbon and little bunches of flowers it really was, as Ethel Burkett had declared, ‘Quite a change,’ being more of a toque, and the material black velvet. Three pompons nestled against the crown, grey, black, and lavender. As they drove away, Randal said with an affectionate smile, ‘Surely that is a new hat. I like those what-you-may-call-’ems at the side.’
Miss Silver experienced a glow of modest pleasure. She supplied the name.
‘They are pompons.’
‘Most becoming.’
From this promising ope
