It had evidently been an ordinary dwelling-house in old times, but a bow window had been added to transform it into a shop.
A flight of broken steps led to the basement, where the cobbler and his household lived; but as they carefully descended, Malcolm suddenly paused.
"What on earth is that noise ?" he asked in a puzzled tone.

And Anna, drawing her dainty white skirts closely round her, stood still to listen.
It was certainly an extraordinary combination of sounds.

It seemed at first as though two people were singing a duet in different tunes and without any regard to time; there was persistent melody and yet there was utter discord, and it seemed accompanied by the clanging of fire-irons.
Presently Anna began to laugh.

"Do let us go in and see what it means," she whispered.

"Somebody--a man, I think--is singing 'Rule Britannia' and 'Hark, hark, my soul' by turns, and there is a woman talking or scolding at the same time." "I believe you are right," was Malcolm's answer.