"Are you that man?"
Her face grew very gentle and her voice soft, as she put the question.
"I simply instance an example to confute your argument. May I change the subject? What is my work to be? Much must of course depend on that. Like the elephant, my strength is in my head rather than my hands, certainly not in my legs."
"Our store-keeper and book-keeper left us a month ago. Since then I have been doing his work. Are you good at figures?"
"Fairly; that sort of work would suit me admirably, and would, I believe, enable me to give you satisfaction. And, my friend——But here he comes to ask for himself."
Ellison was sauntering slowly up the path. He looked a fine figure of a man in the evening sunlight. His borrowed plumes fitted and suited him admirably. He lifted his hat with the air of a court chamberlain when he came to the veranda steps.
"I am glad to see you about again," he said to Murkard, who was examining him critically, "you certainly look better."
"I am, as I have already said, a different man."
"You look happier, certainly."
"I have just received my appointment to a position of trust."