"Wait," said Arnold. "Flora, suspecting nothing wrong, was quite happy. Her husband was fond of her, and they lived in complete harmony. He had banked the money he received from his cousin, and proposed later, when his business affairs were more prosperous, to furnish a house for her. Especially did he promise to furnish a White Room." Fane sat up, with a lively expression on his face. "Ah, now, this is becoming interesting. I have a White Room in my house." "Yes. And poor Flora was murdered there." "By whom?" asked Fane innocently. "You'll hear that later. To resume the story. Things were arranged in this way, and husband and wife lived very comfortably, although neither had money. But Flora expected to get a large fortune from her Australian relative. He had promised to leave it to her, and corresponded constantly with her. Afterwards finding Gunnersbury inconvenient for his business, Brand removed to Hampstead. Flora took Fairy Lodge, and furnished it and attended to all that. The husband should have done that work," said Arnold with emphasis, "but for some reason he rarely showed himself. Flora's landlord, for instance, never set eyes on Mr. Brand." "He seems to have been a mysterious person," said Fane coolly. "Go on, please. The story is becoming exciting." "It will be so before it is finished. Well, Flora settled down in Fairy Lodge. Her husband stayed away a great deal." "On business?" interrupted Fane. "So he said," replied Calvert calmly; "but he was away months at a time. Flora never suspected anything to be wrong. But after a time she noticed that Brand was not so loving as he had been. He tried to make it up to her by promising to furnish the grand house they had often talked about. But Flora would not let him do this until the money came from the Australian relative. Then news came that the old man was ill. He wrote and told Flora that a will had been made in her favour, leaving her all his money, which amounted to some thousands a year." "The money you have now?" "Yes," assented the young man; "the money I have now. On hearing the news Brand would not be restrained any longer. He told Flora that he would furnish the house, but that he must be allowed to do it in his own way. He did not tell her where the new house was, nor did he consult her about the furnishing." "What about the White Room then?" "He knew how to furnish that," said Arnold quickly; "the White Room was a freak on the part of my cousin. She always had a fancy to have a room entirely white, and she had one at Hampstead. "I had one at Troy," said Fane coolly; "what of that?" "Nothing. Only it is strange that you should have had the same idea of furnishing an odd room as Flora. Well, then, things were thus a year or two ago when news came that the Australian Brand had married his housekeeper, and that the money would likely be left to her." "What a blow to your cousin," said Fane ironically.