Read "The House of the Schemers" by Fred M. White online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Perhaps it was because her companion looked so terrified that Ailsa lost her nerve for a moment. At that instant she would have found it hard to open the panel. There was something almost senseless about that knocking--it was so different from what might have been expected.
"It sounds so different to what one has expected," Grace said, with a want of logic that Ailsa could have deemed to be laughable in other circumstances. "Of course, I have no reason for saying it, but it looks as if somebody had found us out."