Page 457 of 657

Colonel Lysander Stark sprang out, and, as I followed after him,

pulled me swiftly into a porch which gaped in front of us. We

stepped, as it were, right out of the carriage and into the hall,

so that I failed to catch the most fleeting glance of the front

of the house. The instant that I had crossed the threshold the

door slammed heavily behind us, and I heard faintly the rattle of

the wheels as the carriage drove away.