He was going to hold delightful converse with the cultured and agreeable man to whom all these things belonged.
And--well, he might possibly even see a ghost! But now, in the genial daylight, with the prospect of luncheon immediately before him, the idea of ghosts seemed rather to retire into the background.

Ghosts did not appear so attractive as they had done yesterday afternoon, when he had talked about them with Lubin.

However--here he was.
Mr St Aubyn, tall and middle-aged, with a refined face set in a short, pointed beard, received him with exquisite cordiality.

How seldom does a man realise the positive idolatry he can inspire by treating a well-bred youth on equal terms, instead of assuming airs of patronage and condescension! The boy accepts such an attitude as natural, perhaps, but he resents it nevertheless, and never gives the man his confidence.

The perfect manners of St Aubyn won Austin's heart at once, and he responded with a modest ardour that touched and gratified his host.