She doubted if she had the nerve to hold her emotions and her fears in control to that extent, but even while she reflected she was fingering one of the dresses on the bed. And scarcely conscious of what she was doing she changed and wandered out down the old oaken staircase.

An uneasy feeling that hidden eyes were watching her every movement possessed her, but that she put down to her shaken nerves. A gloomy quiet brooded over the house. Once she gently opened one of the massive doors and peeped into a sombre panelled room furnished as a study. A dog growled and she had a glimpse of a big Alsatian wolfhound rising menacingly from the hearth. She hurriedly closed the door. Apart from that she heard no sound of life about the place.

Avoiding the morning-room which she had seen Hughes enter on their arrival, she strolled with an appearance of nonchalance that cost her an effort to maintain into the grounds. They had a derelict and unkempt appearance. Indeed, viewed from the outside the whole house and its domain afforded a singular contrast from the well-kept if gloomy interior.