Page:The Lark - E Nesbit, 1922.djvu/51

52 The dusky distance gave hints of shallow stairs and broad, wooden balustrade. Close by the door stood pail and scrubbing-brush, And most of the floor was clean and damp.

"Oh, Jane—don't, she'll be back directly!"

"She won't be back for half an hour. And if she does come back she can't kill us. Come in—come in, I tell you! You outside and the door open are enough to give us away to the whole neighbourhood. Come in and don't upset the pail. Now close the door. I say, it's jolly dark! Where are you?"

"Of course it's dark, all the shutters are shut!" said Lucilla impatiently.

"Hold on, there's a crack of light there!"

There was. Jane pushed a door and the crack broadened to a parallelogram of soft yellow light. It came, they saw, from a candle burning on the long table of a noble kitchen, oak raftered, wide hearthed.

"What a dream of a place " said Jane. "Come on, let's explore."

"Better not," said Lucilla. "This will land us in trouble. I feel it in my bones."

"It's the adventure of our lives," said Jane. "Come on," and she caught at the candle.

"I should only like to know," Lucilla protested, "whether it's burglary or just housebreaking."

"It's neither," Jane told her, throwing open a door at the other end of the hall. "It's what they call a youthful indiscretion. This is the drawing-room—it's at the back; let's open the shutters and have a peep."

The shutters creaked back and the spring sunshine flooded the room. The furniture was mellowed and faded in a perfect harmony, but its walls were a vivid, heartless pink.

"Like cheap sweets," Lucilla gasped. "Shut it up again, do."

They found the dining-room, and perceived it to be furnished, but one could not see the furniture for the walls. Their colour was a fierce full blue.