he turned through the back door and renny tripped after him , pausing to hitch up her cape , the red velvet lining damp , a flash of it disappearing renny into a wash-house chill with concrete and suspended garden implements choked with last year 's and the years ' before garden detritus ; more insects , these to scale and dead , victim to fist-sized spiders whose glittering webs drooped like net curtains in renny 's vampiric wake .