“Hullo!” he exclaimed. “You back already!”
“My call I thought was of suitable length,” was the measured rejoinder.
“What sort of a fellow is this new tenant of ours?” Gregory demanded.
His uncle paused for a moment. Gregory’s fingers were nervously tapping the vellum-bound manuscript which he held.
“A very ordinary sort of person,” he pronounced, “who appears to have found his way here entirely by accident.”
Gregory replaced on the shelf the catalogue which he had been studying. He failed to notice that he had been holding the volume upside down.
“Good of you to do the duty stunt, Uncle Henry,” he observed.
“It has always been one of my few obligations,” was the quiet reply. “Mr. Johnson is lunching with us to-morrow.”
“I sha’n’t go over to Cromer until the afternoon then,” Gregory announced. “One may as well be civil, and I have rather a fancy to see what the fellow is like.”