In the short interval that elapsed before the appearance of the lights, my lady took a rapid survey of matters in her mind. The conclusion she arrived at was, that there were some items of the recent conversation altogether curious; that a certain mysterious atmosphere enveloped the present as well as the past; not the least of which was Richard Thornycroft's manner and his too evident faith in mystery. Take it for all in all, the most incomprehensible place she had ever come in contact with was the Red Court Farm. CHAPTER XV. The New Mistress of the Red Court. My lady was up betimes in the morning. Remembering the previous day's dinner, she went to seek the cook, intending to come down upon her with a reprimand. The servants were only just rising from breakfast, which afforded my lady an opportunity of seeing the style of that meal as served in the kitchen of the Red Court Farm. Tea and coffee; part of a ham, cold; toasted bacon, hot; eggs boiled; watercress and radishes; a raised pie; cold beef; shrimps; hot rolls; toast and butter. The sight of all this so completely took Lady Ellis aback, that she could only stare and wonder. "Is this your usual breakfast table?" she asked of the cook when the rest had left the kitchen. "Yes, my lady." "By whose permission?" "By--I don't understand," said the cook, a stolid sort of woman in ordinary, with a placid face, though very great in her own department. "Who is it that allows all this?" Still the woman did not quite comprehend. The scale of living at the Red Court Farm was so profuse, that the servants in point of fact could eat what they pleased. "Sometimes the eatables is varied, my lady." "But--does Mr. Thornycroft know of this extravagance going on? Is he aware that you sit down to such a breakfast?" Cook could not say. He did not trouble himself about the matter. Yes, now she remembered, the justice had come in when they were at breakfast and other meals. "Who has been the manager here?--who has had the ordering of things?" inquired my lady, in a suppressed passion. "Sinnett, chiefly. Once in a way the justice would give the orders for dinner; a'most never," was the reply. Compressing her lips, determining to suppress all this ere many days should be over, my lady quitted the subject for the one she had chiefly come to speak upon. "And now, cook, what did you mean by flying in the face of my orders yesterday?" "Did I fly in the face of 'em?" asked the cook, simply. "Did you! I ordered a plain dinner--fish, a joint, and pudding. You sent up--I know not what in addition to it." "Oh, it's them extra dishes you mean. Yes, my lady, Sinnett ordered 'em." "_Sinnett!_" echoed my lady. "Did you tell her I had desired the dinner should be plain--that I had fixed on it?" she asked after a pause. "Sinnett said that sort of dinner wouldn't do for the justice, and I was to send up a better one." My lady bit her thin lips. "Call Sinnett here if you please."