" One thing I forgot , sir .sx About what they told Murray at the pub .sx The only other inhabitant's a girl .sx A niece , she's thought to be .sx " " Miss Kipper , in fact ?sx " " That may well be , sir .sx " " Splendid .sx This affair is going to offer one sheerly aesthetic moment , at least .sx I look forward to it .sx " And Appleby walked on .sx The drive was completely untended .sx It passed between ragged shrubberies and skirted a garden which was a wilderness .sx But even this hardly prepared one for the spectacle that the house itself presented on a closer view .sx It stood , as it were , knee-deep in weeds- like some forlorn prehistoric creature in an inedible pasture .sx Its grey surfaces were flaked and cracked ; its woodwork was denuded of paint ; many of the lower windows showed tattered curtains pulled awry , and some of the upper ones lacked entire panes of glass .sx The effect was the more shocking because the house carried its breeding on its ruined face .sx If challenged to date it , Appleby would have said 1718 ; if challenged to name the builder , he would have said James Gibbs .sx But now it spoke either of madness- which , indeed , was what was attributed to its owner- or of penury .sx Perhaps it spoke of both .sx Appleby found himself wondering how the false Astarte had risen to a decent coat and skirt when she had presented herself to Gulliver and Heffer on that fateful occasion .sx For this was Astarte's home .sx Mysteriously , but finally , Appleby hadn't the slightest doubt of it .sx He glanced at Heffer's car .sx It told him that Heffer was either a man of unassuming tastes or possessed of only a very modest private income indeed .sx He glanced at the other car , which Parker had supposed to be a doctor's .sx There was a brief-case on the back seat- and , neatly stacked beside it , a sheaf of documents tied with narrow pink tape .sx Not a doctor , then .sx A solicitor .sx This discovery was a relief .sx Appleby mounted half a dozen steps to the front door .sx As he did so , he recalled Sir Gabriel Gulliver's guess at Astarte Oakes's background :sx the ponies and the spaniels in decay , and a garden boy beginning to feel entitled to a rise in wages .sx Genteel poverty among the descendants of a Colonial Governor .sx Well , that looked as if it had been a near miss .sx The poverty was here , all right .sx But it didn't seem as if there were a garden boy .sx Appleby rang the bell .sx Or , rather , he went through the motion of doing this .sx But the bell-pull went limp in his hand .sx It might have been the limb of an infant corpse- he suddenly and ghoulishly thought- before 6rigor mortis set in .sx Then he remembered a story of a man who had pulled at a broken bell like this so vigorously that yards of wire had shot out and strangled him .sx Veere House , he decided , didn't conduce to a healthy state of mind .sx He clenched his fist and knocked vigorously on the door .sx After a pause , he knocked again .sx There was every reason to suppose that the effect in the interior must be considerable .sx But nothing happened .sx Perhaps he ought to begin shouting an injunction to open in the name of the law .sx But that was more in Parker's line .sx He tried the door and found that it wasn't locked .sx So he opened it and walked in .sx Trespass , perhaps .sx But not house-breaking or burglary .sx He was confirmed at once in his impression that here had been a dwelling of some elegance .sx In front of him was a circular hall of moderate dimensions , rising to a cupola and lantern , and clothed in a plain honeycoloured marble which was relieved by engaged pilasters in the same stone .sx Ahead was an archway beyond which a branching staircase rose beneath a second cupola .sx On either side were open doorways , giving on large rooms .sx The hall was quite empty .sx It could have done with a vigorous wash down , but apart from this it retained the dignity of the day on which it was built .sx Contrastingly , both the rooms leading off it gave an immediate impression of being disgraced .sx And the reason was obvious .sx Not only were the carpets and curtains in the last stages of decay .sx The rooms were crowded- and crowded with junk .sx It wouldn't all be junk , indeed , if transported to a junk-shop .sx But it was junk here .sx Appleby concentrated on the room on his right .sx There was a further open door at the other side of it , through which it was possible to see part of another room beyond .sx This seemed to be crowded in the same way .sx And neither room was furnished with the slightest attempt at individual character or even specific function .sx There were beds and there were sideboards .sx There were desks which looked as if they had come from massive Victorian offices , and there were dressing-tables which looked as if they had come from penurious Victorian servants' dormitories .sx The walls were covered with pictures- oils , water-colours and steel-engravings side by side .sx There were bags of golf-clubs and bundles of tennis-rackets .sx There was a vaulting horse and a croquet-box and a stuffed bear and a harmonium .sx And in the disposition of all these crowded objects there was only one principle to be observed .sx It was a principle , however , that struck Appleby as a notable one .sx Nothing was entirely concealed behind anything else .sx In the minute which it took Appleby to absorb all this , Veere House was as soundless as the tomb .sx If the false Astarte were really here , it must surely be in the character of a Sleeping Beauty .sx In which case , Jimmy Heffer had certainly taken on the ro@5le of Prince Charming .sx But whether his plan for arousing the lady was at all moral- whether , indeed , they mightn't both wake up to find themselves in gaol- was a different matter .sx Anyway , they must now be hunted out .sx Appleby was about to address himself to this task when he became aware that the deathly stillness of the place had been broken .sx It had been broken by a light , firm tapping from- he judged- some distant part of the ground floor on which he stood .sx The tapping came nearer .sx You didn't have to remember Treasure Island and the blind pirate to be a little unnerved by it .sx Appleby , who had fought for his life in thieves' kitchens almost as often as Sexton Blake , felt a momentary tingling of the scalp .sx And then- at the far end of the farther room at which he had been glancing- the occasion of the tapping appeared .sx It was an old woman .sx She came from the shadow of some remoter corridor into a shaft of afternoon sunshine falling through the farthest of a series of windows which extended between Appleby and herself .sx As she did so , the sound of her stick- for the tapping did proceed from a stick- was muted but still irrationally alarming .sx She had passed from a tiled floor to a carpeted one .sx It was a quick tapping- so that it suggested itself as indeed produced by a blind person rather than a lame one .sx But this was delusive .sx The old woman had eyes that could see .sx That she was using them was almost the first impression you had of her .sx She was advancing towards Appleby with her head turned steadily to her left .sx Her stick was in her right hand .sx With her left hand- its index-finger extended- she was making spasmodic but purposeful movements as she advanced .sx She was very old .sx She was in black .sx The black was relieved by a white collar and a white cap .sx And this , of course , was what made her uncanny- uncanny as she advanced through this decorous house , a house of the kind in which the successors of Sir Christopher Wren had tactfully refined upon the Dutch taste of William and Mary .sx The old woman was like an old woman by Rembrandt .sx That was it .sx Of course it didn't make sense .sx Mrs Kipper was not , presumably , a Kipper .sx Very probably she had been a Miss Smith or a Miss Jones .sx But perhaps she had grown into the place .sx . Now she had passed into the shadow between two windows- and now she was in clear faint sunlight again .sx She was nearer .sx And she wasn't- Appleby saw- a Rembrandt , after all .sx She was just a Frans Hals .sx She hadn't- that was to say- grown out of the flesh with age .sx She was an ordinary acquisitive old woman .sx But no- she wasn't quite ordinary , either .sx She was behaving in too extraordinary a way .sx For he could see , now , what that left index-finger was doing .sx It was ticking things off .sx It was ticking off all those rubbishing material possessions , no one among which quite concealed any other .sx The pathological old miser- for that , of course , was what she was- advanced steadily towards Appleby .sx She looked at him , and frowned .sx He ought not to have been there to be counted .sx She stopped , and spoke sharply .sx " Young man , " she said , " are you Richardson's clerk ?sx " It certainly wasn't that she was purblind .sx A glance from her eyes told you that she saw everything .sx So Appleby felt rejuvenated .sx Whether he was a young man was , after all , a relative matter .sx On the other hand , he certainly wasn't Richardson's clerk .sx So he had better say so .sx " No , " he replied .sx " My name is Appleby , and I have come to call on your niece .sx You must forgive me for walking in .sx I seemed to have some difficulty with the bell at the front door .sx " Mrs Kipper- as she must be presumed to be- ignored this .sx She had come to a halt for a moment , but now she walked on- crossing her elegant hall and entering the first of the rooms on its farther side .sx At the same time , she signed to Appleby to accompany her .sx She gave the impression of being prepared to listen to him , provided this did not distract her from the more important task of checking over her property .sx This still took place entirely on her left hand .sx No doubt there was going to be a return journey .sx " I " - Mrs Kipper said- " because Richardson is in the house now .sx I heard his voice as he went upstairs .sx He has no business here .sx I have a good mind to turn him out of the place .sx " " Isn't Mr Richardson your solicitor ?sx " Appleby asked this very much at a venture .sx " Certainly not .sx My solicitor is Mr Wiggins of Gray's Inn .sx I went up to see him only a few days ago .sx Richardson is a local man , who did business for my late brother-in-law , Joseph Kipper .sx Most mistakenly and unnecessarily , Joseph left a sum of money in trust for the education of my niece .sx Richardson administered it .sx But that is all over .sx The money has been spent and the trust discharged .sx The girl may send for him as she pleases .sx But he hasn't a penny left to give her , all the same .sx Unless out of his own pocket .sx " " Your niece Astarte ?sx " Mrs Kipper had now nearly reached the far end of the room .sx And she took time off the more serious business of her peregrination to look sharply at Appleby .sx " Astarte ?sx Stuff and nonsense !sx My niece's name is plain Jane .sx " " Plain Jane , I am told , is one of the loveliest girls in England .sx " It was again in an experimental spirit that Appleby offered this .sx What it produced from Mrs Kipper was a cackle of highly disagreeable laughter .sx " Lovely ?sx All the more reason why she should marry Charles Onions .sx They will cancel each other out , so far as looks go .sx Mr Onions is a revoltingly ugly man .sx " " I see .sx " And indeed Appleby was beginning to see what might be called the archetypal simplicity of the situation at Veere House .sx " Your niece has no wish to marry this revoltingly ugly man .sx But she is penniless .sx And he is the match that you design for her .sx " " You express it very clearly , " Mrs Kipper said .sx And she walked on .sx " The announcement , " she said presently , " would look well in The Times- supposing one were to waste money in that way .sx