The House of the Schemers by Fred M. White

The latter words of old Susan's were spoken with softness and feeling, so that Ailsa was astonished. Before she could say anything suitable in reply the old woman was gone. Ailsa heard her door close presently, and a dead, heavy silence hung over the house. With a sense of the necessity for all due precaution Ailsa went to the front door, and bolted and locked it. Usually the front door was left on the latch, for the master of the house had been known to come home unexpectedly and late after he had written not to expect him. It was just as well not to neglect anything, Ailsa thought. If Colville came back and tried to get in, it would be quite easy for Ailsa to say that she felt nervous, so had secured the door.

To say that she felt nervous was no figure of speech. She could not settle down to anything in the studio, and presently she resigned her brushes with a sigh of despair. A book failed to keep her attention arrested, so she threw it aside and looked out of the landing window into the street. The moving crowd below was company to a certain extent.