* * * * *
I brought the box to her and presented it with ceremony. She was always
charming. She begged me to wait while she opened it.
When I spoke of the “skeleton in the cupboard” I had little guessed how
startlingly true the words must have sounded. It was her fault that
Blantyre had gone to India, and with the gift lay the rebuke, for the
skeleton grasped the deeds.
* * * * *
“The skeleton, Colonel?”
“Yes, the skeleton of his right hand.”