Guiltily conscious that Charlotte was right in refusing to accept his well-worn excuse, Percy made an awkward attempt to change the topic of conversation.
They happened, at the moment, to be standing near a small conservatory at the end of the garden.

The glass door was closed, and the few plants and shrubs inside had a lonely, neglected look.

"Does nobody ever visit this secluded place ?" Percy asked, jocosely, "or does it hide discoveries in the rearing of plants which are forbidden mysteries to a stranger ?" "Satisfy your curiosity, Mr.Linwood, by all means," Charlotte answered in the same tone.

"Open the door, and I will follow you." Percy obeyed.

In passing through the doorway, he encountered the bare hanging branches of some creeping plant, long since dead, and detached from its fastenings on the woodwork of the roof.