A suggestion that way was indeed made, would he "visit the laird out o' hand, or would he bide awee ?" Phineas decided on visiting the laird out of hand, and was at once led across the hall, down a back passage which he had never before traversed, and introduced to the chamber which had ever been known as the "laird's ain room." Here Robert Kennedy rose to receive him.
Phineas knew the man's age well.

He was still under fifty, but he looked as though he were seventy.

He had always been thin, but he was thinner now than ever.

He was very grey, and stooped so much, that though he came forward a step or two to greet his guest, it seemed as though he had not taken the trouble to raise himself to his proper height.

"You find me a much altered man," he said.