While Dr Roylott was in India he married my mother, who was a widow. My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old at the time of my mother's re-marriage. Shortly after our return to England, my mother died - she was killed eight years ago in a railway accident. She had a considerable sum of money, and this she left to Dr Roylott entirely while we lived with him, with the provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to each of us in the event of our marriage.

On the death of my mother, Dr Roylott abandoned his attempts to work in London as a doctor, and took us to live with him in his old ancestral house at Stoke Moran The money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and there seemed no obstacle to our happiness

But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our neighbours, who had at first had been overjoyed to see a Roylott back in the old family seat at Stoke Moran, he shut himself up in his house and seldom came out except to indulge in furious quarrels with whoever he might meet.