"Oh," he said, "that explains things. I thought I caught sight of him in the street just as I was leaving the station."
"He appears to take a great interest in Nancy," pursued Mark, with a mischievous smile, "but somehow or other she doesn't exactly seem to appreciate it."
"I didn't invite him here," protested Nancy, "and I don't think he had any right to come."
Before Mark could reply there was a tap outside, and the harassed features of Martha Jane intruded themselves round the door.
"If you please, doctor," she said, "there's another four patients in the waiting room. That makes nine altogether."
"Oh, damn!" said Mark. "I suppose I must go down and see them. You'll stay to tea, Colin, of course?"
"If I'm not in the way," was the answer. "Perhaps I'd better go out for a stroll and come back."
"You stop here and talk to Nancy," replied Mark. "There's no hurry about the books, and she can save me a lot of trouble by explaining how we run the practice. She really knows rather more about it than I do."
He knocked out his pipe, and, thrusting it into his pocket, hurried off downstairs on the heels of Martha Jane.
Colin closed the door and came back to where Nancy was sitting.