Explore "The Sealed Message" by Fergus Hume on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
"The Devon Maid" was a tumbledown inn, and the center of Denleigh village, which lay, more or less concealed, among the folds of fertile hills. Down the valley prattled a shallow stream, and the comparatively few cottages, forming the secluded hamlet, were placed confusedly on either side, each having its own tiny garden. A broad stone bridge, of cyclopean build, spanned the brook in one low arch. Across this ran the highway, which gave access to the interior world, for it dipped down one hill and, after passing over the bridge, ascended the other on its way inland to even more remote villages. Near the bridge in question stood the two-story inn, built of rugged stone, hewn into huge blocks, and roofed with curved red tiles, the whole overgrown with ivy and wisteria and many-colored roses. With three narrow windows above and two narrow windows with a moderately wide door below, the house looked sullen and secretive.
One could have an adventure at such a hostel: it breathed the spirit of romance, and cut-throat, trapdoor romance at that.