“I am not quite sure what my aunt means,” I replied cautiously. “Perhaps it would be better to ask her.”
“Miss Lamont is quite aware what I meant,” Aunt Elspeth said hotly. “She lost herself on the journey from this residence the other night and…”
“I see.” Mrs. Cairnsmuir nodded. “I have indeed heard that story.” She looked at me, then at John Forres. “And what does Mr. Forres think about it?”
John Forres was surreptitiously engaged in admiring his silhouette in a mirror. As I watched he placed two fingers inside an inside pocket and produced a snuff box in the shape of a woman"s leg. Still watching himself, he practised opening it with an apparently casual flick of his left thumb, removed a pinch and thrust it up each nostril in turn. His sneeze was as elegant as any could be, and only
