“I'll see,” said the servant.
She returned in a short time, and said: “He says you may come upstairs.”
Paul followed the servant, who pointed out a door at the head of the first staircase.
Paul knocked, and, hearing “Come in” from within, he opened the door and entered.
He found himself in a spacious chamber, handsomely furnished. Mr. Preston, in dressing-gown and slippers, sat before a cheerful, open fire.
“Come and sit down by the fire,” he said, sociably.
“Thank you, sir, I am warm with walking,” and Paul took a seat near the door.
“I am one of the cold kind,” said Mr. Preston, “and have a fire earlier than most people. You come about the shirts, I suppose?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Will your mother undertake them?”