“Why do you think I am Lady Claverly?” Carina questioned.

“Because I’ve seen your portrait,” he answered. “And a beautiful one it was too. Couldn’t take me eyes off it, I don’t know why. Just seemed to get under me skin, if you knows what I mean. Stood in front of it for hours on end, I did. And then, when I sees you in the flesh, it was like seein’ a ghost. ‘Lady Claverly,’ I says to myself, ‘not in a picture, but on her two feet!’”

“But I am not Lady Claverly – she was my mother,” Carina said. “And where have you seen this portrait?”

“At your home, of course. Claverly Court. Where else would I be likely to see it?” the man enquired.

“You – were at Claverly Court?” Carina asked wonderingly.

And then, suddenly, her voice was almost strangled in her throat and she asked,

“You are Sir Percy Rockley’s man – did you go to Claverly Court with him?”

“That’s right. Went down to have a look at the place. Nice little estate. He took a real fancy to it, he did. ‘I think we’ll keep this one, Jenkins,’ he says. Quite a compliment, in a way, he very seldom keeps a place. Sells ’em at once.”

“You mean – ” Carina said and her voice seemed to come from a long distance away “ – you mean Sir Percy Rockley took over Claverly from my father?”

“That’s right, that must have been it,” the manservant answered. “I thought at first when I saw you that you were your mother, the portrait was just like you. I’ve kept thinkin’ about it I have, I don’t know why. Somethin’ about the way it was painted, her golden hair, just like yours, against the blue sky.”

“So it was Sir Percy who won – who took Claverly from us,” Carina said, almost beneath her breath.

“Of course, it was only one of the many places he has won,” the manservant went on. “Amazin’ he is. No one like him! House after house, estate after estate. ‘What are you goin’ to do with them all?’ I asked him when first they started comin’ in. ‘I’m goin’ to sell ’em, Jenkins,’ he answered, ‘in my own time and at my own price’.” The manservant paused. “Clever. Most gamblers don’t plan anythin’ out. They just ask for the money!”

“Sir Percy and Claverly – I had no idea,” Carina said in a whisper.

“Naturally, it’s always a bit of a shock when people find their homes have gone,” the man continued. “But it’s luck, just luck. And I always says Sir Percy has the luck of the devil!”

With an effort, Carina gripped hold of herself.

“Tell me,” she said, “ – tell me something I want to know.”