“Have you heard from Hector?”
“Oh, yes. He went off all right last Wednesday from Spithead, and he will write from Madeira. But you generally have later news at Elmdene than I have.”
“I don't know whether Laura has heard. Have you been up to see the new comer?”
“Yes; I have just left him.”
“Is he a married man—this Mr. Raffles Haw?”
“No, he is a bachelor. He does not seem to have any relations either, as far as I could learn. He lives alone, amid his huge staff of servants. It is a most remarkable establishment. It made me think of the Arabian Nights.”
“And the man? What is he like?”
“He is an angel—a positive angel. I never heard or read of such kindness in my life. He has made me a happy man.”
The clergyman's eyes sparkled with emotion, and he blew his nose loudly in his big red handkerchief.
Robert McIntyre looked at him in surprise.