Nightfall

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Nightfall, by Anthony PrydeThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it,give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online atwww.gutenberg.netTitle: NightfallAuthor: Anthony PrydeRelease Date: June 30, 2005 [eBook #14489]Language: EnglishCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NIGHTFALL***E-text prepared by Harry Graham ListonNIGHTFALLbyANTHONY PRYDECHAPTER I"Tea is ready, Bernard," said Laura Clowes, coming in from the garden.It was five o'clock on a June afternoon, but the hall was so dark that she had to grope her way. Wanhope was a large,old-fashioned manor-house, a plain brick front unbroken except in the middle, where its corniced roof was carrieddown by steps to an immense gateway of weathered stone, carved with the escutcheon of the family and their Motto:FORTIS ET FIDELIS. Wistarias rambled over both sides, wreathing the stone window-frames in their grape-likeclusters of lilac bloom, and flagstones running from end to end, shallow, and so worn that a delicate growth ofstonecrop fringed them, shelved down to a lawn.Indoors in the great hall it was dark because floor and staircase and wall and ceiling were all lined with Spanishchestnut-wood, while the windows were full of Flemish glass in purple and sepia and blue. There was nothing ...