"Intimately," replied Miss Destiny, somewhat primly. "She was my brother's housekeeper at Burwain for years. Then he died, and Anne came here. Burwain, which is between Gattlingsands and Tarhaven, is subject to fogs," explained the little lady, "and Anne believed that clear inland air would suit her chest better." I knew Burwain as a somnolent hamlet set in a flat country and muffled with woods and tall hedges. This very day had I passed it in the Rippler, when conveying Cannington to Murchester. It was odd that this little woman should mention it of all places. "You know that Mrs. Caldershaw is dead," I ventured to remark. Miss Destiny threw up her hands. "The shock of it," she whimpered. "I was coming to see her and remain for the night. My servant, Lucinda, drove me from Burwain in my trap." "Cart," struck in Mrs. Faith vehemently, while Giles and his wife, standing near the fire, held their peace. "It is a cart," admitted Miss Destiny, "which I have turned into a trap, as I am very, very, very poor." Her voice ascended to the last word. "Yesterday morning I started, and stayed last night with a friend at Saxham, which is half way to Murchester. This morning we drove on again, and were approaching Mootley when the motor car nearly smashed my trap." "My motor car?" I asked quickly. "I heard something about its belonging to a gentleman," said Miss Destiny; "it was, however, driven by a woman in a long white cloak----" "The lady I saw," murmured Giles, of whom Miss Destiny took no notice. "She drove headlong down a steep incline, and came within a handbreadth of the trap, Mr. Vance. Then she swerved round and went smashing through a wooden gate, not too securely fashioned, into a field. I was very much upset, and Lucinda--always mindful of my comfort--drove on to Mootley as quickly as possible. There"--Miss Destiny rose and became quite dramatic--"I was met with the news that Anne Caldershaw had been found dead. The news upset me so that I nearly fainted. But this good woman," she indicated Mrs. Faith with a gracious bend of the head, "brought me here; and I am obliged to these honest people," she nodded towards Giles and his wife, "for reviving me. Where I am to stop the night I don't know, as Anne informed me in her letter that there is no inn here." "There's a public-house," put in Giles reflectively, "but it isn't fit for a lady like you. If you will stay here, ma'am, for the night----" "If it's not very expensive," interrupted Miss Destiny. "It will cost nothing, ma'am," said Giles curtly. "I'm none so poor, but what I can't give a bite and a bed to a stranger." "Then I accept with pleasure," replied Miss Destiny, and really seemed delighted at the idea of getting bed and breakfast for nothing. Either she was very poor, or she was avaricious. I could not decide which, but gave her the benefit of the doubt, and looked upon her as a reduced gentlewoman. "What about me, Giles?" I asked when this was settled.