He drew his arms from her as if he too was reluctant and she gazed at him bewildered, at the same time feeling as if her whole body was glowing with a strange unaccountable warmth.
A footman opened the door and Alita managed to alight.
Only when she was standing on the steps did she realise with a feeling of consternation that the servants must have aroused the nightwatchman for the front door was open.
Slowly she walked towards it, aware that Clint Wilbur moved beside her.
They stepped into the hall and old Johnson, who had been the nightwatchman for years and who was half-blind, quavered,
“I was a-wonderin’ who it could be, Miss Alita. I didn’t know as you were out!”
Alita did not reply.
She only moved a little further into the hall, which was lit by just one lantern standing by t
