Forbid anyone, though it were Sir Harry himself." The little chamber was bright with the glow of a coal fire.

The red curtains had been drawn and one lamp lit.

The single occupant sprawled in a winged leather chair, his stretched-out legs in the firelight, but his head and shoulders in shadow.

A man entering could not see the face, and Lovel, whose eyes had been weakened by study, peered a second before he closed the door behind him.
"I have come to you, Nick, as always when my mind is in tribulation." The speaker had a harsh voice, like a bellman's which has been ruined by shouting against crowds.

He had got to his feet and seemed an elderly man, heavy in body, with legs too short for the proportions of his trunk.