Presently a bolt was shot and the door pushed open with an effort.

It was little used, and there was ice against it.

Then a man's face peered out irresolutely into the dusk.

A knock upon the front door, upon a night like this, seemed so unlikely that he doubted if he had heard rightly.
"Anybody here ?" he said.

Then he saw the woman's figure propped stiffly against the door-post.