The Hermit of Far End

n! Change here for Mot

elderly spinster and her maid, and as the former had insisted upon the exclusion of every breath of outside air, Sara felt half-suffocated by the time they ran into Oldhampton Junction. The Monkshaven train was already standing in the sta

ut a single occupant-a man in the far corner, half-hidden behind the newspaper he was holding-and, tippin

rner abruptly low

er," he remarke

bundantly clear that the remainder of his thought ran: "And you've no

ow," she replied placidly, with a glance towards

as such-and the next moment, to the accompaniment of much banging of doors and a fi

eir unpleasant predilection for a vitiated atmosphere, and her thoughts wandered idly to the consi

se latter intrigued Sara considerably-their long, sensitive fingers and short, well-kept nails according curiously with their sunburnt suggestion of great physical strength and an outdoor life. She wished their owner w

ghts, the newspaper suddenly crac

ing," he announced aggressively

e gold and enamel affair in her hand-bag, filled with

led tones. "That's why I got in. I, t

and tobacco pouch from the depths of a pocket, and proceeded to fill the former, carefull

clean-shaven lips met with a curious suggestion of bitter reticence in their firm closing. His hair was brown-"plain brown" as Sara mentally characterized it-but it had a redeeming kink in it and the crispness of splendid vitality. The eyes beneath the straight, rather frowning brows were hazel, and, even in the brief space o

of her fellow-passenger, and, as he lit his pipe, she was sharply conscious that

her entrance into the compartment, and the defia

chbox. She hunted assiduously amongst the assortment of odds and ends the bag contained, but in vain, and finally, a little nettled that her companion

onvinced that he was aware of her quandary and had no mind to help her

ntally. Then, aloud, and

oblige me w

he produced a matchbox and handed it to her, immediately reverting

igarette, tendered him his matchbox

without troubling to raise his eyes from the page he was reading, and the remainder of

deliberation to fold up his newspaper and to hoist his suit-case down from the rack. It did not seem to occur to him to proffer his service to Sara, who was struggli

musement cro

lowed in the wake of a porter in search of her

uld the circumstances of her residence in Monkshaven aff

and it was soon apparent that no conveya

aught but a little pony-trap, and he's most times using it himself. But there's a 'bus

which the station yard was paved, she found herself being driven in leisurely fashion through the high street of the litt

en March wind. The town itself spread out before her, an assemblage of red and grey tiled roofs sloping downwards to the curve of the bay, while, on the right, a bold promontory thrust itself into the sea, grimly resisting the perpetual onslaught of the wave. T

er conversationally. "Bit of a lonesome pla

re?" asked Sar

rue they say of 'im. He's lived there a matter of ten years or more-lives by 'i

remoteness and inaccessibility. It seemed peculiarly appropr

hew the society of his fellow-men; here he could dwell, solitary and apart, surrounded on three sides by the grey, dividing

miss. This is

e cab had stopped in front of a white-painted wooden gate bearing the

ent-like for the luggage," added the man, with a mildly disapproving gla

his fare, made her way through the

broke the silence, and, although the front door stood invitingly open, th

he house but failed to produce any more important result than the dislodging of some dust from a ledge above

ts and coats, all of them looking considerably the worse for wear, and by two straight-backed chairs placed with praiseworthy exactitude at equal distances apart from the aforesaid rather overburdened piece of furniture.

, at all events, to arouse the living, for presently heavy footsteps could be heard descending the stairs, and, finally, a middle-aged maidservant, whose cap h

had time to formulate any reply, she added, a thought more graciously: "Ma

ccept this as a dismissal, and looked consider

yn, please? I understand

up for seeing visitors. And Miss Molly,

expecting me, surely? I'm Miss Tenn

n't just the way of them," she went on indignantly, "never mentioning that 'twas to-day you were coming-and no sheets aired to your bed and all! The master, he never s

ng half-inaudibly, "You'll be liking a cup of tea, I expect," she disappeared into the back regions of the house, whe

was now all reduced to a drab level of shabbiness. There were a few genuine antiques amongst it-a couple of camel-backed Chippendale chairs, a grandfather's clock, and some fine old bits of silver-which Sara's eye, accustomed to the rare and beautifu

on, reflected that in such an oddly conducted household, where the advent of an expected, and obviously much-needed, paying guest c

a household that she could fill. Mentally she proceeded to make a tour of the room, duster in hand, and she had just reached the point where, in imagination, s

she could well imagine the long-boiling kettle from w

that tea's

professional-looking thing about him. For the rest, he might have been taken to be either an impoverished country squire and sportsman, or a Roman Catholic dignitary, according to whether you assessed him by his broad, well-knit

own her cu

said, a flicker of amusement at his

with a slight grimace-"you won't find we are any worse than I depicted. I was very sorry I had to be out when you came," he went

ra tranquilly, "that she h

e that of a puppy caught in the unlaw

forgotten that you were coming to-day. She's by way of being an artist-art-student, rather"-correcting himself with a smile. "You know the kind of thing-black carpets and Fu

eyes

rely in the light of an unpleasan

think of us all?" he strode across the room and pealed the bell, and, when Jane appeared in ans

mmovable calm of the old fam

eeing that neither you nor Miss Molly named it

to make arrangements,"

o so, sir, may I ask?" inqui

u no orders about preparing a room?" countered

one prepared, neither! 'Tis no use crying over spilt milk. Let me get on with

ed forthwith ab

he unappetizing tea in Sara's cup. "I positively dare not order you fresh tea-in the circumstances. Jane would probably retaliate with an ultimatu

e some tea yourse

ospect of getting any while Jane mai

the kitchen-I'll make some

ed her with a

said. "Trespassers in the

t know me," repl

the doctor, and led the way to the sacr

t. Nay, more, by some occult process known only to herself, she succeeded in winning Jane's capacious heart, and from that moment onwards, the autocrat of th

as has got some sense in her head," she was