Maggie, going to the window, saw a dark shapeless figure beyond the glass.

For an instant she was invaded by the terror of her surprised loneliness, then she remembered her father and the warm kitchen, then realised that this figure in the dark must be her Uncle Mathew.
She went out into the hall, pushed back the stiff, clumsy handle of the door, and stepped on to the gravel path.

She called out, laughing: "Come in! You frightened me out of my life." As he came towards her she felt the mingled kindness and irritation that he always roused in her.

He stood in the light of the hall lamp, a fat man, a soft hat pushed to the back of his head, a bag in one hand.
His face was weak and good-tempered, his eyes had once been fine but now they were dim and blurred; there were dimples in his fat cheeks; he wore on his upper lip a ragged and untidy moustache and he had two indeterminate chins.

His expression was mild, kindly, now a little ashamed, now greatly indignant.