She returned, and asked him to walk into the sitting-room, where Mrs.Wade was studying with her feet on the fender.
"Do I come unseasonably ?" he asked, offering his hand.
"Not if you have anything interesting to say," was the curious reply.
The widow was not accounted for reception of visitors.

She wore an old though quite presentable dress, with a light shawl about her shoulders, and had evidently postponed the arrangement of her hair until the time of going abroad.

Yet her appearance could hardly be called disconcerting, for it had nothing of slovenliness.

She looked a student, that was all.

For some reason, however, she gave Quarrier a less cordial welcome than he had anticipated.