Then she turned the key and the handle and drew the door in towards her.

A violent gust of wind, full of cold and drenching rain, whirled into the passage and almost blinded her.

The lamp flickered in the lantern overhead.

But she looked boldly out, facing the wind and weather.
"Come in!" she called in a low voice.
Immediately there was a sound as of footsteps coming from the direction of the drawing-room window, across the wet slate flags which surrounded the cottage, and a moment afterwards, peering through the darkness, Mrs.
Goddard saw a man with a ghastly face standing before her in the rain..