Evidently laxity--one might almost say
anarchy--had set in directly she had removed the eye of authority. She
marched to the window and pushed it open. She had now completely
abandoned her kindly scheme of refraining from rousing the sleeping
house and spending the night at the inn. She stepped into the drawing-room
with the single-minded purpose of rousing Eustace out of his sleep and
giving him a good talking to for having failed to maintain her own
standard of efficiency among the domestic staff. If there was one thing
on which Mrs. Horace Hignett had always insisted it was that every window
in the house must be closed at lights-out.
She pushed the curtains apart with a rattle and, at the same moment,
from the direction of the door there came a low but distinct gasp which
made her resolute heart jump and flutter. It was too dark to see
anything distinctly, but, in the instant before it turned and fled, she
caught sight of a shadowy male figure, and knew that her worst fears
had been realised.
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