noon
Some one send Margaret Casey and Eliza , her sister , here . Now leave me , Lord Hope , and you , Lady Carset . You can trust the old woman alone with these two . '' Before noon , that day , it was known in all the country around that the old countess , Lady Carset , lay in funeral state in the royal guest-chamber at Houghton Castle , for the long red flag was floating half-way down its staff , and a hatchment hung in mournful gorgeousness over the principal entrance between those two massive towers . But farther than the flag could be seen , and swift as the wind that stirred it , went the strange story that the beautiful Lady Hope had been seized with a violent hemorrhage of the lungs while standing by the death couch of the old countess , and had died before help could be obtained . After this , another wild rumor took wing . The young lady who had been some weeks at the castle was only an adopted daughter of Lord Hope , and , consequently could not become heiress of Houghton under the will or by entail .