Shan't be long." But when he had left the telephone he made no haste.

He lingered by his desk; he was slow in turning out the gas; slow in quitting and locking up his office; he went slowly away through the town.

Nothing could have been further from his wishes than a desire to entertain company that night--and especially a stranger.

His footsteps dragged as he passed through the market-place and turned into the outskirts beyond.
Some years previously to this, when they had both married and made money, the two partners had built new houses for themselves.

Outside Highmarket, on its western boundary, rose a long, low hill called Highmarket Shawl; the slope which overhung the town was thickly covered with fir and pine, amidst which great masses of limestone crag jutted out here and there.