'My name is Helen Stoner,' she began, 'and I live
with my stepfather, Dr Grimesby Roylott, near a
village in the country. His family was once very rich,
but they had no money when my stepfather was born.
So he studied to be a doctor, and went out to India. He
met and married my mother there, when my sister Julia
and I were very young. Our father was dead, you see.'