smart, with amazing clothes; and some married daughters with babies. There were two daughters unmarried, who seemed to be always abroad or in London. We liked Lord Helmstone; even my mother liked him. But she criticised his "noisy friends." These were the golfers who motored down from London. Broad-shouldered men, in tweeds that made them seem broader still. They would pass by our garden-wall and look at Bettina. Often when they had passed they looked back. Secretly, I wondered if any of them were those "husbands" who were going to take care of us. Some lodged in the village. The noisiest stayed at the Hall.
Bettina's singing had broken off abruptly. I heard her running upstairs.
And then a cry.
"Come oh, quickly, quickly!"
Bettina had heard the fall overhead.
Our mother lay on the floor, Bettina standing over her, agonised, helpless.
We lifted her on to the bed. We loosened her clothing, and brought water, and bathed her temples.
