Excerpt from The Affair at the Chateau When the post came, she had been playing tennis with Gerda Lawson, formerly her school-friend, in the back - garden, which was just large enough to hold the court, but not to allow the nurse to exercise the babies therein while a game was in progress. The weather was uncertain, and Phyl had been aggrieved at having to send nurse and the twins out for a walk when it threatened rain. However, she provided tea under the veranda for the two girls, who had just sat down to drink it when the afternoon letters were brought out. Hallo! Who's writing to me from Haute Savoie? Cried Vere with suddenly kindled interest as her eye fell on the postmark. Take my tip, Merton - open it and find out, said Gerda, Speaking from that corner of her mouth which was not holding her gasper, or wait a sec., let's have a penny on it! I bet it's from a. Mysterious unknown who wants you to copy out a prayer nine times and send it to nine friends. More likely it's from those people in Annecy who sell aluminium saucepans, put in Mrs. Merton with unusual relevance. Offering a discount if you buy a dozen and a free saucepan if you induce a friend to buy. Done. Bet you both it's neither, said Vere as she broke open the envelope, and stared at a sheet of good quality paper with a stamped heading. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.