Austin returned in plenty of time to spend a few minutes loitering in the garden after he had dressed for dinner.

It was a favourite habit of his, and he said it gave him an appetite; but the truth was that he always loved to be in the open air to the very last moment of the day, watching the colours of the sky as they changed and melted into twilight.

On this particular evening the heavens were streaked with primrose, and pale iris, and delicate limpid green; and so absorbed was he in gazing at this splendour of dissolving beauty that he forgot all about his appetite, and had to be called twice over before he could drag himself away.
"Well, and did you have an interesting visit ?" asked Aunt Charlotte, when dinner was halfway through.

"You found Mr St Aubyn at home ?" Austin had been unusually silent up till then, being somewhat preoccupied with the experiences of the afternoon.

He wanted to ask his aunt all manner of questions, but scarcely liked to do so as long as the servant was waiting.