That they were strangers to the neighbourhood she was sure; she had
certainly never seen either of the two women before. The elder of the
two was a plump, round-faced little lady, with bright brown eyes, and
pretty, crinkly brown hair lightly powdered with grey. She was very
fashionably dressed, and the careful detail of her toilet pointed to no
lack of means. The younger woman, too, was exquisitely turned out, but
there was something so individual about her personality that it
dominated everything else, relegating her clothes to a very secondary
position. As in the case of an unusually beautiful gem, it was the
jewel itself which impressed one, rather than the setting which framed
it round.

She was very fair, with quantities of pale golden hair rather
elaborately dressed, and her eyes were blue--not the keen, brilliant
blue of those of the man beside her, but a soft blue-grey, like the sky
on a misty summer's morning.

Her small, exquisite features were clean-cut as a cameo, and she
carried herself with a little touch of hauteur--an air of aloofness, as
it were. There was nothing ungracious about it, but it was
unmistakably there--a slightly emphasised hint of personal dignity.

Diana regarded her with some perplexity; the girl's face was vaguely
familiar to her, yet at the same time she felt perfectly certain that
she had never seen her before. She wondered whether she were any
relation to the man with her, but there was no particular resemblance
between the two, except that both were fair and bore themselves with a
certain subtle air of distinction that rather singled them out from
amongst their fellows.