Henderson has two
children--girls of eleven and thirteen. Their governess is a
Miss Burnet, an Englishwoman of forty or thereabouts. There is
also one confidential manservant. This little group forms the
real family, for their travel about together, and Henderson is a
great traveller, always on the move. It is only within the last
weeks that he has returned, after a year's absence, to High
Gable. I may add that he is enormously rich, and whatever his
whims may be he can very easily satisfy them. For the rest, his
house is full of butlers, footmen, maidservants, and the usual
overfed, underworked staff of a large English country house.
"So much I learned partly from village gossip and partly from my
own observation. There are no better instruments than discharged
servants with a grievance, and I was lucky enough to find one. I
call it luck, but it would not have come my way had I not been
looking out for it. As Baynes remarks, we all have our systems.
It was my system which enabled me to find John Warner, late
gardener of High Gable, sacked in a moment of temper by his
imperious employer. He in turn had friends among the indoor
servants who unite in their fear and dislike of their master.
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