He lived by himself; he had never married; and the world, although he smiled at it facetiously, was not a pleasant place in his eyes.
Henry, after he had washed himself at the sink in the shop, entered the kitchen, where the table was set, and passed through to the sitting-room, where the lawyer was.

Sidney Meeks did not rise.

He extended one large, white hand affably.

"How are you Henry ?" said he, giving the other man's lean, brown fingers a hard shake.

"I dropped in here on my way home from the post-office, and your wife tempted me with flapjacks in a lordly dish, and I am about to eat." "Glad to see you," returned Henry.
"You get home early, or it seems early, now the days are getting so long," said Meeks, as Henry sat down opposite.
"Yes, it's early enough, but I don't get any more pay." Meeks laughed.