"My name is Helen Stoner, and I live with my stepfather. He is the last of one of the oldest Saxon families in England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. My mother married him in India, where he worked as a doctor, and she died eight years ago in a railway accident. She left a large income, and the money is held for her two daughters. If we marry, each of us may claim her share. Since our return to England my stepfather has shut himself up in the old house and sees no one. He has a terrible temper, and twice he has been in trouble with the police. Last year he threw the village blacksmith over a wall into a stream. He keeps strange animals from India — a cheetah and a baboon — and they wander freely about the grounds. The only people he likes are the gypsies who camp in his park; he goes away with them for weeks at a time. My poor sister Julia and I had little pleasure in our lives, and no servant would stay with us."