There was the little strip of cold green shrubbery before it; the chilly, bare veranda, and above this, again, the grim balcony, on which no one sat.

Ah Fe rang the bell.

A servant appeared, glanced at his basket, and reluctantly admitted him, as if he were some necessary domestic animal.

Ah Fe silently mounted the stairs, and entering the open door of the front chamber, put down the basket and stood passively on the threshold.
A woman, who was sitting in the cold gray light of the window, with a child in her lap, rose listlessly, and came toward him.

Ah Fe instantly recognized Mrs.Tretherick; but not a muscle of his immobile face changed, nor did his slant eyes lighten as he met her own placidly.