Chapter 9
THE SAME thin man who had opened the door for them now led the group back into the hall. In his prim-faced silence he preceded the group up the sweeping broad staircase into an upstairs corridor.
The walls were dark red here, and the doors a very dark brown. The ceilings had been painted white, but the paint had yellowed with age. The only light came from a tiny window at the very end of the passage and the light that fell in was dusky and didn’t do much to dispel the closed-up, stifling atmosphere.
“Phooey, this place could do with an airing,” Nellie said under her breath. Johanna agreed. Apart from the musty smell, the runner looked dusty, as if no one had walked through this corridor for ages.
How many people lived in this giant house?
They passed an open door to a room t
