MR.

LONGDON.
If Mitchy arrived exactly at the hour it was quite by design and on a calculation--over and above the prized little pleasure it might give him--of ten minutes clear with his host, whom it rarely befell him to see alone.

He had a theory of something special to go into, of a plummet to sink or a feeler to put forth; his state of mind in short was diplomatic and anxious.

But his hopes had a drop as he crossed the threshold.

His precaution had only assured him the company of a stranger, for the person in the room to whom the servant announced him was not old Van.