When Dr Roylott was in India he married my mother. My mother was married before, and she had two daughters. They were my sister Julia and I. We were twins, and we were two years old when my mother married again. We went back to England. Eight years ago my mother died. She was quite rich, and her money all went to our stepfather, Dr Roylott. The money was for us too. If we were married, we would have some of the money every year.

When my mother died, my stepfather did not want to be a doctor in London. So we went to the old house of his family in the village of Stoke Moran. We had enough money for everything, and I told my sister "we will be very happy".

But our stepfather changed. He did not make friends with our neighbours, and he did not visit them. But he stayed in the house and did not come out often. When he did come out, he was in a bad temper, and he had terrible fights with everyone he met.