The Duke of York's Steps by Henry Wade — Read

When Inez left the detective on the first occasion, she found her brother, where she had left him, in her own sitting-room, hunched up in an arm-chair and staring gloomily at the fire. If environment has the effect upon human spirits with which it is now popularly credited, there was no excuse for the expression on Ryland's face -- Inez' room was as cheerful as any London room in November can possibly be. The walls and ceilings were painted in three shades of peach, the floor covered with a thick carpet of chestnut brown. The small Heal sofa, and two arm-chairs, were upholstered in an old-fashioned cretonne, with cushions of green and brown loosely flung in unsymmetrical profusion. A rosewood baby-grand piano, a sofa-table, acting now as a writing-table, a small china cabinet, two or three delicate Sheraton chairs and old tray tables, and a walnut fire stool completed the furniture of the room. Over the mantelpiece hung a Chippendale mirror, while a pair of exquisite girandoles and two coloured Bartolozzi engravings were the only other ornaments on the walls. Vases of chrysanthemums and autumn foliage, Florentine candle-lamps, and a brisk coal and wood fire gave the finishing touches to a very charming effect.

Inez herself, in a dark grey georgette which made a perfect background for a single string of exquisitely graded pearls, was very far from detracting from the beauty of her surroundings as she slipped on to the arm of the chair beside her brother. Her beauty was only enhanced by the sombre colour of her clothes and her face now showed none of the anxiety which her interview with the detective must have engendered.