.

.

if they would let him alone.
He got out of bed, stripped, and stood over his bath.

The cold air beat upon his skin; he rejoiced in the sense of his fitness, in the movement of his muscles, in the splendid condition of his body.

If this were to be the last day of his freedom, it should at any rate be a splendid day.
He had his bath, flung on a shirt and trousers and went into his sitting-room, bright now with the morning sun, so that the blue bowls and the red tiles shone, and even the dark face of Aegidius was lighted with the gleam.
Mrs.Ridge was short and stout, with white hair, a black bonnet, and the deepest of voices.