'Penwyn,' he repeated, 'that's a Cornish name isn't it?'
'By Tre, Pol, and Pen you may know the Cornish men. There is nothing more Cornish; I was born and brought up near London, but my race belongs to the Cornish soil. We were indigenous at Penwyn, I believe, the founders and earliest inhabitants of the settlement. Do you know Cornwall?'
'Not intimately. Merely as a traveller.'
'Were you ever at Penwyn?'
'I don't think so, I have no recollection.'
'Well, it's a place you might easily forget, not a promising locality for the exercise of your art. But you seemed struck by my name just now, as if you had heard it before.'
'I think I must have heard it somewhere, but I can't recall the occasion. Let that pass.' And with a majestic wave of the hand Mr. Elgood performed the ceremony of introduction.
'Mr. Dempson, Mr. Penwyn. Mr. Penwyn, Mr. Dempson. Mr. Dempson is our sometime manager, now a brother professional. He has resigned the round and top of sovereignty, and the carking cares of Saturday's treasury.'
Mr. Dempson assented to this statement with a plaintive sigh.
'A harassing profession, the drama, Mr. Penwyn,' he said. 'The many-headed is a monster of huge ingratitudes.'