Chapter 5: The Big House
There, at the end of a broad, closely mown lawn, beyond a broad stone terrace, was an enormous mansion, the sort associated with a true country estate. A line of large, gracious windows ran along the first floor, with more modest windows on the second, and small dormers here and there on the third floor. Near either end of the ground floor were two ordinary-sized wooden doors, and in the middle were a set of French doors. In most of the windows the curtains were closed and, despite the cut lawn and manicured flowers in several urns along the terrace, there was something about the place that suggested it was not currently being lived in.
After a slight hesitation, I walked forward, across the lawn and climbed the broad stone steps leading up to the terrace. Going
