Only it happens that dull people invariably meet dull people, and odd individuals always come across odd individuals, no matter where they may be.

So that to each kind society seems all of a piece.
At one end of the dark tree-covered Shottle Lane stood the "Royal Oak" public house; and Mrs.Houseley was certainly an odd woman.

At the other end of the lane was Shottle House, where the Bricknells lived; the Bricknells were odd, also.

Alfred Bricknell, the old man, was one of the partners in the Colliery firm.

His English was incorrect, his accent, broad Derbyshire, and he was not a gentleman in the snobbish sense of the word.