moved forth, and the house-front stared her in the face, at this
higher level unobscured by fog.

It was a building of the medium size, and unpretending, the facade
being of stone; and of the Italian elevation made familiar by Inigo
Jones and his school. There was a doorway to the lawn, standing at
the head of a flight of steps. The shutters of the house were
closed, and the blinds of the bedrooms drawn down. Her perception of
the fact that no crusty caretaker could see her from the windows led
her at once to slacken her pace, and stroll through the flower-beds
coolly. A house unblinded is a possible spy, and must be treated
accordingly; a house with the shutters together is an insensate heap
of stone and mortar, to be faced with indifference.

On the other side of the house the greensward rose to an eminence,
whereon stood one of those curious summer shelters sometimes erected
on exposed points of view, called an all-the-year-round. In the
present case it consisted of four walls radiating from a centre like
the arms of a turnstile, with seats in each angle, so that
whencesoever the wind came, it was always possible to find a screened
corner from which to observe the landscape.

The milkmaid's trackless course led her up the hill and past this
erection. At ease as to being watched and scolded as an intruder,
her mind flew to other matters; till, at the moment when she was not
a yard from the shelter, she heard a foot or feet scraping on the
gravel behind it. Some one was in the all-the-year-round, apparently
occupying the seat on the other side; as was proved when, on turning,
she saw an elbow, a man's elbow, projecting over the edge.