"
"With a caller?" Nora exclaimed. "Is it any one from the Depot?
I must go and see."
"You needn't trouble," her stepmother replied. "Here they are,
coming in."
The door on the opposite side of the room was suddenly opened, and
Hamar Lessingham and Helen entered together. Lessingham was
entirely at his ease,--their conversation, indeed, seemed almost
engrossing. He came at once across the room on realising Sir
Henry's presence.
"This is Mr. Hamar Lessingham--my husband," Philippa said. "Mr.
Lessingham was at college with Dick, Henry, so of course Helen and
he have been indulging in all sorts of reminiscences."
The two men shook hands.
"I found time also to examine your Leech prints," Lessingham remarked.
"You have some very admirable examples."
"Quite a hobby of mine in my younger days," Sir Henry admitted.
"One or two of them are very good, I believe. Are you staying in
these parts long, Mr. Lessingham?"
"Perhaps for a week or two," was the somewhat indifferent reply.
"I am told that this is the most wonderful air in the world, so I
have come down here to pull up again after a slight illness."
"A dreary spot just now," Sir Henry observed, "but the air's all
right. Are you a sea-fisherman, by any chance, Mr. Lessingham?"
"I have done a little of it," the visitor confessed. Sir Henry's
face lit up.
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