“Show him up here,” said the Squire.
The first thing the new-comer did was to look deliberately around, return to the door, open it, and look outside. Then, closing it, he came back, seated himself opposite the Squire, and said:
“Don’t you know me?”
“No.”
“Look again. You know me right enough, though we’ve neither of us grown any younger.”
“Not from Adam.” And Grantley Wagram leaned back in his chair, as if there were no more to be said.
“Never heard my name before, eh?” said the stranger sneeringly.
“N-no. Wait. Let’s see. Now I remember I read it in connection with some shipwreck. Are you the person referred to?”
“That I am. And a hell of a time I had of it. By the Lord, we all had.”
“I can quite believe that,” said the Squire. “That castaway business must be one of the most ghastly situations imaginable.”