Much better than hanging about
here. I'll come for you when we are ready."
The girls glanced doubtfully at the squat, white house, which in truth
looked the reverse of hospitable; but the prospect of a fire being
all-powerful at the moment, they turned obediently, and made their way
up a worn gravel path, leading to the shabbiest of painted doors.
Margaret knocked; Peg rapped; then Margaret knocked again; but nobody
came, and not a sound broke the stillness within. The girls shivered and
told each other disconsolately there was no one to come. Who _would_
live in such a dreary house, in such a dreary, solitary waste, if it
were possible to live anywhere else? Then they strolled round the corner
of the house, and caught the cheerful glow of firelight, which settled
the question, once for all.
"Let's try the back door!" said Margaret, and the back door being found,
they knocked again, but knocked in vain. Then Peg gave an impatient
shake to the handle, and lo and behold! it turned in her hand, and swung
slowly open on its hinges, showing a glimpse of a trim little kitchen,
and beyond that a narrow passage leading to the front door.
"Is any one there? Is any one there?" chanted Margaret loudly. She took
a hesitating step into the passage--took two; repeated the cry in an
even higher key; but still no answer came, still the same uncanny
silence brooded over all.
The girls stood still, and gazed in each other's eyes; in each face were
reflected the same emotions--curiosity, interest, a tinge of fear.
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