In a minute or so she was in the room, flushed, panting, hopeful.
A long, long time must have passed since that room had been swept.

Flue and dust had accumulated till they formed a soft covering of nearly a quarter of an inch thick.

A fusty, musty smell was in the room, in the air of the staircase, everywhere.
She feared that only the upper part of the house was uninhabited but it was not so.

The place was terribly neglected and dilapidated.

Holes were in the walls, some of the twisted oak stair-rails had been torn away, patches of the ceiling had fallen.