Georg Manville Fenn
"The Dark House"
Chapter One.
Number 9A, Albemarle Square.
“Don’t drink our sherry, Charles?”
Mr Preenham, the butler, stood by the table in the gloomy servants’ hall, as if he had received a shock.
“No, sir; I took ’em up the beer at first, and they shook their heads and asked for wine, and when I took ’em the sherry they shook their heads again, and the one who speaks English said they want key-aunty.”
“Well, all I have got to say,” exclaimed the portly cook, “is, that if I had known what was going to take place, I wouldn’t have stopped an hour after the old man died. It’s wicked! And something awful will happen, as sure as my name’s Thompson.”