This was the message brought to Stephen Ray by the servant one morning.
“Did he give his name?”
“No, sir.”
“Very well; bring him up.”
Mr. Ray was sitting at the desk in his library. He was looking over some plans for the improvement of his handsome residence.
He proposed to enlarge a lower room by a bay window and to carry the piazza round on each side. It would cost something, but his income was ample—at least four times his expenditure.
He looked up as a handsomely dressed gentleman entered the room.
“What is your business, sir?” asked Stephen Ray formally.
The visitor smiled.
“You don’t recognize me, Stephen Ray?” he said.