"The place has not been let for ever so many years. I never saw an ice-house. I wonder what one is like."
"I'll tell you. It's exactly like a huge room of brick, lined with thick boards, and one-third below the ground. I examined this one very closely, thoroughly. There are no floors in it but the one at the bottom of the tank--no ladders--nothing. It is like a great empty tank lined with wood."
"And you say the one at Crawford's Bay is full of water?" she asked.
"Yes."
She shuddered and drew the light shawl she wore tightly round her shoulders.
"How dreadfully dark and cold it must be there, William?"
"Yes; but bless me, Nellie, no one lives in an ice-house, and this one isn't even let!" he cried in surprise.
"I know. But suppose some one should fall into it? Don't you think the doors ought to be put up?"
"My dear Nellie, there isn't the least occasion to waste money on a useless place like that. Of course if we should let it we would be only too happy to put it into good repair. But what is the good of throwing money away?"
"But the danger?"