They were very glad to see him, explaining that, as nobody was supposed to be in town, nobody had been asked to meet him.

In former days he had been very intimate in that house, having received from both of them much kindness, mingled, perhaps, with some touch of severity on the part of the lady.

But the ground for that was gone, and Mrs.Low was no longer painfully severe.

A few words were said as to his great loss.

Mrs.Low once raised her eyebrows in pretended surprise when Phineas explained that he had thrown up his place, and then they settled down on the question of the day.