The hush of the hour was upon me, and made me disinclined to speak lest its spell should be broken--disinclined to do anything but watch the smoke-wreaths as they floated out upon the tranquil air." "Mr.Sanderson broke the silence.
"'You have not been long in coming.' "'Did you not expect me so soon ?' "'Why, you see, I had not read your father's Will.' "I explained to him as briefly as I could the reasons which drove me to leave Lantrig.

He listened in silence, and then said, after a pause-- "'You have not, then, undertaken this lightly ?' "'As Heaven is my witness, no, whether there be anything in this business or not.' "'I think,' said he, slowly, 'there is something in it.

My father had his crotchets, it is true; but he was no fool.

He never opened his lips to me on the matter, but left me to hear the first of it in his last Will and Testament.

Oddly enough, our fathers seem both to have found religion in their old age.