Beyond, I could see a kitchen garden with the apples
in the boughs, and, standing up in the midst of it, a projecting part
of the house which, to my amazement, was covered with thatch.
I was reassured at the moment by hearing Terence Murphy's voice shouting
at a distance. It must have been at the other side of the house, in the
stable-yard, I judged, and I thought I should be able to deliver my
letter before he could by any possibility reach where I was.
There was a glass door leading from the thatched room into the garden,
and I found that it stood open. I noticed that in front of it the grass
plot had been cleared and there were flowers in the borders. Within I
found a very pretty and comfortable room arranged with unexpected
tidiness. As I looked about me I remembered having heard that Terence
always kept a place in readiness for the return of his master. All the
rest of the place might be in ruin, but this room was pleasant and
home-like.
It had once been a woman's room, I thought, from certain prettinesses,
the blue, rose-wreathed carpet on the floor, the ceiling groined under
its thatch and painted in blue with a crescent moon and stars in gold,
the walls covered with silk set in panels.
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