Chapter 22She was on the fifth or sixth step. She had both hands on the balustrade and stood there pressed up against it looking down into the hall. It was impossible to say whether she had been going up or coming down. When she saw John Higgins she poked with her long neck and said in a discontented voice, ‘It’s quite terribly cold, isn’t it? I’ve been in my room, but it is so very chilly there. Do you suppose there is a fire in the lounge?’
He wondered whether it was she who had opened the door to see if there was a fire in the dining-room. He said gravely, ‘Yes, there is a fire in the lounge. Did you think there would be one in the dining-room? Was it you who opened the door just now?’
She was immediately very much flustered. The three separate chains which she wore, one of rather lar
