There was no terror there, present or lurking; and in the
drawing-room, which for good reasons we had never cared to enter,
the sun and the peace and the scent of the flowers worked
together as is fit in an inhabited house. When I returned to the
hall, Baxter was sweetly asleep on a couch, looking most unlike a
middle-aged solicitor who had spent a broken night with an
exacting cousin.
There was ample time for me to review it all--to felicitate
myself upon my magnificent acumen (barring some errors about
Baxter as a thief and possibly a murderer), before the door above
opened, and Baxter, evidently a light sleeper, sprang awake.
"I've had a heavenly little nap," he said, rubbing his eyes with
the backs of his hands like a child. "Good Lord! That's not their
step!"
But it was. I had never before been privileged to see the Shadow
turned backward on the dial--the years ripped bodily off poor
human shoulders--old sunken eyes filled and alight--harsh lips
moistened and human.
"John," Miss Mary called, " I know now.
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