“I wasn’t going to make one.”
“Going to do it with cold hot-water then?” said the stranger, smiling again.
“No, of course not. The kitchen-fireplace is through there,” said Vane, pointing with his rule, “and I want to put a boiler in, so that the one fire will answer both purposes.”
“Good! Excellent!” said the stranger sharply. “Your own idea?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do it, then, as soon as you can—before the winter. Now take me in to your uncle.”
Vane looked at him again, and now with quite a friendly feeling for the man who could sympathise with his plans.
He led the stranger to the front door, and was about to ask him his name, when the doctor came out of his little study.
“Ah, Deering,” he said quietly, “how are you? Who’d have thought of seeing you.”
“Not you, I suppose,” said the visitor quietly. “I was at Lincoln on business, and thought I would come round your way as I went back to town.”