He called a cheerful adieu, the horses were whipped up, and in a moment Richard was left alone on the steps of the house.

He stood for a time looking, then he turned to go into the house, but changed his mind, sat down, lit a cigar, and did not move from his seat until he was summoned to his lonely luncheon.
Nobody thought much of leaving Richard behind at Greyhope.

It seemed the natural thing to do.

But still he had not been left alone--entirely alone--for three years or more.
The days and weeks went on.

If Richard had been accounted eccentric before, there was far greater cause for the term now.