CHAPTER

ONE

Aunt Maria lived in the attractive country between Dorking and Guildford, not far from the village of Abinger. One of the advantages of living in this part of Surrey is that it is easily accessible from London by rail or road, yet it is largely unspoilt. The house she lived in was a large roaming place in wooded country well hidden from the road that passed within a few hundred yards of it. It always seemed a mysterious and remote place to me when I was younger, and even today I can almost believe that I am in some foreign country when I go to stay there.

Aunt Maria today is in her forties while I am twenty-nine, so she is only eleven years older than I am. Yet when I was a child say eight

or nine she seemed like one of the other adults, somewhat formidable and even, at times, frightening. After spending two holidays there as a child I never really thought I should see her again. My parents had quarrelled with her over some family financial matter or so I was led to understand, and as the years went by she

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