'
'I can't help that, I'm proposing to come in, all the same.'
Susie and Dr Porhoet came forward. They promised the small boy a shilling
to hold their horse.
'Now then, get out of here,' cried the woman. 'You're not coming in,
whatever you say.'
She tried to push the gate to, but Arthur's foot prevented her. Paying no
heed to her angry expostulations, he forced his way in. He walked quickly
up the drive. The lodge-keeper accompanied him, with shrill abuse. The
gate was left unguarded, and the others were able to follow without
difficulty.
'You can go to the door, but you won't see Mr Haddo,' the woman cried
angrily. 'You'll get me sacked for letting you come.'
Susie saw the house. It was a fine old building in the Elizabethan style,
but much in need of repair; and it had the desolate look of a place that
has been uninhabited. The garden that surrounded it had been allowed to
run wild, and the avenue up which they walked was green with rank weeds.
Here and there a fallen tree, which none had troubled to remove, marked
the owner's negligence.
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