He even achieved a rude bow as he bolted the door and ushered her into the office.

More than that, he found himself explaining to the fair trespasser the reasons of his return to his own home.

For, like a direct man, he had a consciousness of some inconsistency in his return--or in the circumstances that induced a change of plans which might conscientiously require an explanation.
"You see, ma'am, a rather singular thing happened to me after I passed the summit.

Three times I lost the track, got off it somehow, and found myself traveling in a circle.

The third time, when I struck my own tracks again, I concluded I'd just follow them back here.