It is deterioration of property."
She said the last words as if she had ended with a jest. But she knew
what she was doing.
"You were tricked into giving up what was yours, to a person who could
not be trusted. What has been done with it, scarcely matters. It is not
yours, but Sir Nigel's. But we are not helpless, because we have in our
hands the most powerful material agent in the world.
"Come, Rosy, and let us walk over the house. We will begin with that."
CHAPTER XVII
TOWNLINSON & SHEPPARD
During the whole course of her interesting life--and she had always
found life interesting--Betty Vanderpoel decided that she had known
no experience more absorbing than this morning spent in going over the
long-closed and deserted portions of the neglected house. She had never
seen anything like the place, or as full of suggestion. The greater
part of it had simply been shut up and left to time and weather, both of
which had had their effects. The fine old red roof, having lost tiles,
had fallen into leaks that let in rain, which had stained and rotted
walls, plaster, and woodwork; wind and storm had beaten through broken
window panes and done their worst with such furniture and hangings as
they found to whip and toss and leave damp and spotted with mould.
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