[CHAPTER XVIII]
But as Jennie opened the door to let herself out, two men were standing on the cement sidewalk in front of the grassplots, examining the house. They were big, heavily built men, who, although in plain clothes, suggested the guardianship of law. It came to Jennie instantly that their examination of the house was peculiar; and of that peculiarity she divined with equal promptness the significance. The men declared afterward that in her manner of standing on the step and waiting till they spoke to her there was the same kind of "give-away" as when her brother had eyed them across Broad Street.
The older and heavier of the two advanced up the walk between the grassplots.
"This is the Follett house, ain't it, miss?"
Jennie replied that it was.
"And you're Miss Follett?"
She assented again.
"Is your brother in?"
"N-no; he's not in town."
The big man turned toward his taller and slighter colleague, whatever he had to say being communicated by a look. Having expressed this thought, he veered round again toward Jennie, speaking politely.