"Does it matter?
He was at college with Richard, and he has been a visitor at Wood Norton.

That is all that we know.

Surely it is sufficient for us to offer him any reasonable hospitality ?" "I am not disputing it," Sir Henry assured her.

"On the face of it, it seems perfectly reasonable that you should be civil to him.

On the other hand, there are one or two rather curious points about his coming here just now." "Really ?" Philippa murmured indifferently, bending a little lower over her work.
"In the first place," her husband continued, "how did he arrive here ?" "For all I know," she replied, "he may have walked." "A little unlikely.