Late the same night, after a disordered walk, Archie was admitted into Lord Glenalmond's dining-room, where he sat with a book upon his knee, beside three frugal coals of fire.

In his robes upon the bench, Glenalmond had a certain air of burliness: plucked of these, it was a may-pole of a man that rose unsteadily from his chair to give his visitor welcome.

Archie had suffered much in the last days, he had suffered again that evening; his face was white and drawn, his eyes wild and dark.
But Lord Glenalmond greeted him without the least mark of surprise or curiosity.
"Come in, come in," said he.

"Come in and take a seat.

Carstairs" (to his servant), "make up the fire, and then you can bring a bit of supper," and again to Archie, with a very trivial accent: "I was half expecting you," he added.
"No supper," said Archie.