text: > Go down
  The standard of decoration was definitely plainer in this part of the house, little more than a stale lick of white paint on every available surface. The door to the southwest marked the boundary between the servants' quarters and the rest of the house, while a second door led west, opposite a pair of cupboard doors to the east. A ladder ran up from the floor through the open trapdoor in the ceiling, while a narrow flight of stairs led down to the floor below.
  
  On the shelves were a pair of folded white sheets.
  
  Obvious exits: West, Southwest, Up, Down
  
  I went down the back stairs to the back passage below.
  
  The back passage was a short, narrow space leading from the kitchen door (to the south) to the back door (to the north) between two other doors to east and west. The space was further constricted by a flight of stairs leading up to the floor above.
  
  Obvious exits: North, South, East, West, Up
  
  > Go west
  (first opening the west door)
  
  If the location of this modest-sized rectangular room had not in any case suggested that it was the maids' parlour, the mild shabbiness of its furnishings would probably have given the game away. Now that the housekeeper was apparently the only member of domestic staff retained under conditions of wartime austerity, it apparently doubled as her workroom and sitting-room. A battered arm chair nestled against a small, scratched wooden table in one corner, while an ironing board was set up near the middle of the room, strategically close to the fireplace. The sole door out was to the east.
  
  On the peg was a dark coat. On the small table was a wireless.
  
  Hilda was busily doing some ironing.
  
  The wireless was playing the Tannhauser overture.
  
  Obvious exits: East
  
  "Where you get all that from?" Hilda demanded, seeing all the stuff I was carrying. "You have come to rob us? I tell Mr Croxley for sure!"
  
  (My best response seemed to be to make some excuse.)
  
  > make the excuse
  "It's only some bits and pieces I happened to find lying around," I said.
  
  "Too many bits; too many pieces," she complained. "I tell Mr Croxley you are thief!"
  
  > hit her
  I couldn't do that - I was an officer in the Royal Engineers, not the SS!
  
  The wireless continued to play Tannhauser.
  
  > tell her about the spy
  "That is - how you say? - not at all unboring," she remarked.
  
  > show the slip to Hilda
  "What do you make of this?" I asked.
  
  She took the slip of paper from me and glanced at it briefly before handing it back. "Ich weiss nicht - I not know nothing about it." she replied, perhaps just a little too firmly.
  
  > Inventory
  I was carrying a theatrical magazine, a scrumpled fragment, a piece of paper, a long wooden pole, and a slip of paper, and I was wearing a beret and khaki battledress.
  
  > go east
  (first trying to open the east door)
  The east door seemed to be locked.
  
  > drop the pole
  Dropped.
  
  > check what you're carrying
  I was carrying a theatrical magazine, a scrumpled fragment, a piece of paper, and a slip of paper, and I was wearing a beret and khaki battledress.
  
  > Drop battledress
  (first trying to take off the khaki battledress)
  I had no desire to walk round half-naked.
  
  > Go west
  (first opening the west door)
  
  If the location of this modest-sized rectangular room had not in any case suggested that it was the maids' parlour, the mild shabbiness of its furnishings would probably have given the game away. Now that the housekeeper was apparently the only member of domestic staff retained under conditions of wartime austerity, it apparently doubled as her workroom and sitting-room. A battered arm chair nestled against a small, scratched wooden table in one corner, while an ironing board was set up near the middle of the room, strategically close to the fireplace. The sole door out was to the east.
  
  On the peg was a dark coat. On the small table was a wireless.
  
  Hilda was busily doing some ironing.
  
  The wireless was playing the Tannhauser overture.
  
  Obvious exits: East
  
  "Where you get all that from?" Hilda demanded, seeing all the stuff I was carrying. "You have come to rob us? I tell Mr Croxley for sure!"
  
  (My best response seemed to be to make some excuse.)
  
  > ask her about the Durbury
  "Who's Durbury?" I asked.
  
  Hilda looked momentarily startled, then snapped, "I have no idea. Why you ask me such things?"
  
  > ask her about Jeremy
  "So?" she shrugged.
  
  The wireless continued to play Tannhauser.
  
  > ask her about germany
  "How was Germany, before you left?" I enquireed.
  
  "Very frightening," Hilda told me, "especially for Jews, but also for everyone else, I think."
  
  > show the piece of the paper to her
  "What do you make of this?" I asked, showing her the piece of paper covered with letters and numbers.
  
  "Nothing," she replied, after a quick glance. "Make no sense to me at all."
  
  > ask her about Adam
  "Do you know anything about Adam Croxley?" I asked.
  
  "Only that he shot down by German plane," she replied. "He was already dead before I come."
  
  > ask her about Tony
  "What do you know about Tony Croxley?" I asked.
  
  "Not very much," she replied. "He was Mr Croxley's son, in army, but not come back from France."
  
  The overture playing on the radio reached a stirring rendition of the Pilgrim's Chorus.
  
  > ask her about Angela
  "I had quite a nice little chat with Miss Croxley," I remarked. "She certainly seems a nice girl."
  
  "Young men are such fools, always going by what seems," she replied.
  "I tell you, Miss Croxley not what she seem. She don't tell truth for one thing. And then she creep about at night, waking me up when she walk past my room, but denying it all. No, Herr Leutnant, Miss Croxley only seem nice. Behind that pretty face and pretty smile is different person."
  
  > ask Hilda about the attic
  "What do you keep up in the attic?" I asked.
  
  "What a question? Why you care what Croxleys keep in their attic!" she declared. "Besides, why would I know? I not go there!"
  
  > ask Hilda about trapdoor
  "Where does that trapdoor upstairs lead?" I asked. "And how do you get it open?"
  
  "Why you want to know?" she replied crossly. "What business of yours? Why you go snooping round house? You leave things alone, or I tell Mr Croxley!"
  
  > ask Hilda about the suitcase
  I didn't have the effrontery to ask Hilda about her suitcase; to have done so would have been to admit that I had been searching her room.
  
  The wireless broadcast reached a quieter passage.
  
  > examine the coat
  It was a dark coat, almost black, with a pocket to one side.
  
  > examine pocket
  The pocket looked quite deep.
  
  > ask her about Arthur
  "What you think you doing?" Hilda complained. "Are you the Gestapo now? You leave my coat alone!"
  
  "Tell me more about Mr Croxley," I said. "What's he like?"
  
  "He seem a good man," she replied. "He has been kind to me, and - how you say? - deals well with so many deaths. Inwardly he is sad, I think."
  
  > search pocket
  "Leave coat alone!" Hilda insisted.
  
  > ask Hilda about the coat
  "That's an interesting-looking coat you have there," I remarked.
  
  "Interesting?" she queried, "Is just a coat!"
  
  > ask her for the torch
  "Is there a torch somewhere I could borrow?" I enquired.
  
  "What you want torch for?" she demanded suspiciously.
  
  "In case of a power cut," I lied smoothly. "The storm's already brought the telephone lines down, so I thought the power lines might be next, and I'm not sure I fancy spending the night in a strange house without being able to see anything!"
  
  "Ach! Men are such babies - scared of the dark! And you a soldier!" she taunted. "But I think there is spare torch in - what you call it? - small room off kitchen where we store food."
  
  The Wagner overture continued to play on the wireless.
  
  > ask her about scrumpled
  "What do you think this means?" I asked, showing her the scrumpled piece of paper with the remark about terminating Durbury on it.
  
  For a moment she seemed quite startled as she read the scrap, but then vigorously shook her head, "I have no idea!" she declared. "No idea at all!"
  
  > ask her about Arthur
  She'd already told me that Mr Croxley seemed a good man, who had been kind to her and who seemed to be coping well with so many bereavements, although she also thought that he was sad inside.
  
  > tell Hilda about the photo
  "Who are those people in the photo in Mr Croxley's bedroom?" I enquired.
  
  "How I know?" she replied. "Why he tell me? I not ask such things - I not snoop around like you!"
  
  > ask her about Mr Graham
  "It is like this," she began. "Ach! I have not the words for it in English!"
  
  > ask her about the creak
  "I'm sure I heard some more creaking sounds from upstairs," I said. "There has to be someone moving around there - even if it's only a ghost!"
  
  "No ghosts, no people, just old house noises, like Miss Croxley say," she replied.
  
  > ask her about the bedrooms
  In reply she merely grunted and carried on ironing.
  
  > ask her about room with the gramophone
  "So many questions!" she complained. "You are worse than the police!"
  
  > find the torch
  What do you want to look that up in?
  
  > find kitchen
  (going east)
  
  Hilda watched me go.
  
  The back passage was a short, narrow space leading from the kitchen door (to the south) to the back door (to the north) between two other doors to east and west. The space was further constricted by a flight of stairs leading up to the floor above.
  
  I saw a long wooden pole and a theatrical magazine there.
  
  Obvious exits: North, South, East, West, Up
  
  (To continue on your way use the command CONTINUE or C).
  
  > Go south
  (first opening the south door)
  
  Shelves lined the walls to east and west, leaving a narrow aisle running from the door at the northern end to the small window at the other.
  
  On the shelves were a torch, some tins, some packets, some loose potatoes, and some apples.
  
  Obvious exits: North
  
  > examine the tins
  Some contained flour, others bread, and others broken biscuits[2].
  
  There were all sorts of tins there, including tinned vegetables, corned beef, and various other supplies.
  
  > examine the potatoes
  Most of them looked as if they had been kept a little too long, since they were beginning to sprout.
  
  > examine the window
  Broken biscuits might seem an odd thing to keep, but the point is they weren't rationed.
  
  The small window was hidden behind the curtains.
  
  > open the window
  The small window was hidden behind the curtains.
  
  > find the trapdoor
  Which trapdoor do you mean, the hatch, or the ladder (in the upper passage)?
  
  > Go north
  The kitchen looked large enough to accommodate the platoon of culinary staff who may have worked there before the war. Circumstances were now reduced, however, leaving the place rather bare: a large wooden table at one end, with a single hard wooden chair right next to it, now comprised the bulk of the furniture. A long, old-fashioned cooking range ran along the east wall, while doors led off to west, south and north, a calendar being attached to the last of these.
  
  Obvious exits: North, South, West
  
  > go north
  (first opening the north door)
  
  The back passage was a short, narrow space leading from the kitchen door (to the south) to the back door (to the north) between two other doors to east and west. The space was further constricted by a flight of stairs leading up to the floor above.
  
  I saw a long wooden pole and a theatrical magazine there.
  
  Obvious exits: North, South, East, West, Up
  
  > take all
  I took the long wooden pole and the theatrical magazine.
  
  > Go upwards
  I climbed the narrow stairs to the floor above.
  
  The standard of decoration was definitely plainer in this part of the house, little more than a stale lick of white paint on every available surface. The door to the southwest marked the boundary between the servants' quarters and the rest of the house, while a second door led west, opposite a pair of cupboard doors to the east. A ladder ran up from the floor through the open trapdoor in the ceiling, while a narrow flight of stairs led down to the floor below.
  
  On the shelves were a pair of folded white sheets.
  
  Obvious exits: West, Southwest, Up, Down
  
  > Go up
  I scrambled up the ladder.
  
  Attic (in the dark)
  It was profoundly dark up there, with nothing visible apart from the open hatch leading back down.
  
  Obvious exits: Down
  
  > examine the torch
  It was too dark to do that.
  
  > turn on the torch
  I switched on the torch, and it emitted a reasonably bright beam of light.
  
  The attic had accumulated surprisingly little junk for a family home. Bare boards stretched out in every direction from the open hatch with little to clutter them. The beam of my torch picked out hardly anything apart from the odd packing crate and a plethora of cobwebs. Almost by chance it also landed on an old blanket covering a pile of stuff half-hidden away.
  
  Obvious exits: Down
  
  > examine the torch
  It was basically a black metal tube with a silver switch on the side, currently switched on.
  
  > look at the crate
  A number of large wooden crates sat on the floor, each of them quite plain and none of them giving any clue as to its contents. The dust on the ground near one of them seemed to have been disturbed quite recently.
  
  > move the crate
  I pushed one of the crates a few inches, along the lines in the dust, revealing a loose floorboard.
  
  > take the floorboard
  It was shorter than most of the other boards, being only about six or seven inches long.One end was a fraction of an inch proud of its neighbour, and I noticed it wobble when I moved the crate.
  
  Under the loose floorboard was a dull grey key. I picked up the dull grey key and replaced the floorboard.
  
  > examine the blanket
  The blanket was of a dark brown colour, and looked quite worn.
  
  > look under it
  Under the old blanket was a large wooden box.
  
  > look at the box
  Smaller than the packing crates, the wooden box was also of higher quality construction, being made of some dark polished wood - mahogany perhaps. It was about two feet wide, a foot high, and eighteen inches deep. It was closed.
  
  > open the box
  The large wooden box seemed to be locked.
  
  > Unlock box
  (with the dull grey key)
  Unlocked.
  
  > open it
  (first taking the old blanket)
  Moving the old blanket revealed a large wooden box underneath. Opening the large wooden box revealed a radio, a pair of headphones, and a small tin box.
  
  > examine the tin box
  It was a small tin box, painted black, of the sort one might keep various little odds and ends in. It was closed.
  
  > open it
  Opening the small tin box revealed a pencil and a small brass key.
  
  > examine brass key
  It looked pretty new; the brass was still shiny with scarcely any sign of tarnishing.
  
  > take the key
  I took the small brass key.
  
  > examine the radio
  The wireless set fitted snugly in its box, with a coil of wire attached at one end. The most prominent features of the set itself were the tuning dial, the telegraph key and the power switch.
  
  > examine the dial
  The numbers round the dial indicated that it could be turned to any number between 1 and 30; it was currently set to 3.
  
  > put on the headphones
  (first taking the pair of headphones)
  Okay, I was now wearing the pair of headphones.
  
  > listen
  The rain constantly drummed against the window.