Trix smiled.
“I never thought of that,” she owned. “But, of course, it is quite obvious. Only I am so afraid of breaking my promise.”
She had risen to her feet by now. He held out his hand.
“I would not worry about that, if I were you. You have not broken it in the smallest degree. But now go and get leave to break it, if you can, and set your mind at rest.”
CHAPTER XXXIV
AN AMAZING SUGGESTION
The avenue and garden were quite deserted as Trix approached Chorley Old Hall. The lawn was one great sheet of unbroken whiteness, flanked by frosted yew hedges, and very desolate.
She passed quickly along the terrace towards the front door, feeling almost as if spying eyes were watching her from behind the curtained windows. She took hold of the hanging iron bell-handle and pulled it, its coldness striking through her glove with an icy chill. She heard its clang in some far-off region, yet oddly loud in the dead silence. Involuntarily she shivered, partly with the cold, and partly with a sudden sense of nervousness.