But to Adam it was, as it were, only on the fringes.
He knew what was still to be seen when his friends had got over the knowledge of externals.

As yet, they had only seen the outside of the house--or rather, where the outside of the house once had been.

The great horror lay within.

However, age--and the experience of age--counts.
A strange, almost elemental, change in the aspect had taken place in the time which had elapsed since the dawn.

It would almost seem as if Nature herself had tried to obliterate the evil signs of what had occurred.
True, the utter ruin of the house was made even more manifest in the searching daylight; but the more appalling destruction which lay beneath was not visible.