At the death of
her father, her mother had been left with an income that enabled
her to live, as she said, genteelly, at Brighton. She had three
children: the eldest a girl of twelve; Isobel, who was eight; and
a boy of five, who was sadly deformed, the result of a fall from
the arms of a careless nurse when he was an infant. It was at that
time that Major Hannay had come home on leave, having been left
trustee and executor, and seen to all the money arrangements, and
had established his brother's widow at Brighton. The work had not
been altogether pleasant, for Mrs. Hannay was a selfish and querulous
woman, very difficult to satisfy even in little matters, and with
a chronic suspicion that everyone with whom she came in contact was
trying to get the best of her. Her eldest girl was likely, Captain
Hannay thought, to take after her mother, whose pet she was, while
Isobel took after her father. He had suggested that both should
be sent to school, but Mrs. Hannay would not hear of parting from
Helena, but was willing enough that Isobel should be sent to a
boarding school at her uncle's expense.
As the years went by, Helena grew up, as Mrs. Hannay proudly said,
the image of what she herself had been at her age--tall and
fair, indolent and selfish, fond of dress and gayety, discontented
because their means would not permit them to indulge in either to
the fullest extent. There was nothing in common between her and her
sister, who, when at home for the holidays, spent her time almost
entirely with her brother, who received but slight attention from
anyone else, his deformity being considered as a personal injury
and affliction by his mother and elder sister.
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