Then followed a most learned discussion, for it appeared that this was a flint instrument of the rarest and most valuable type, one that Noah might have used, or Job might have scraped himself with, and the question was how the dickens had it come among that quarry debris.

In the end we left the problem undecided, and having presented the article to Dr.Rodd, a gift for which he thanked me with real warmth, I returned to the house filled with the glow that rewards one who has made a valuable discovery.
Of the following three days I have nothing particular to say, except that during them I was perhaps more acutely bored than ever I had been in my life before.

The house was beautiful in its own fashion; the food was excellent; there was everything I could want to drink, and Rodd announced that he no longer feared the necessity of operation upon Anscombe's leg.

His recovery was now a mere matter of time, and meanwhile he must not use his foot or let the blood run into it more than could be helped, which meant that he must keep himself in a recumbent position.

The trouble was that I had nothing on earth do except study the characters of our hosts, which I found disagreeable and depressing.