"But he
would hand it back to you, I think, sir."
There was a pause, then Stafford said:
"Do you know any of your neighbours--any of the people round about?"
"No; I was never here until yesterday, excepting for an hour or two.
But we shall know them, I suppose; they'll call in a little while, and
we will ask them to dinner, and so on. There should be some nice
people--Ah, Mr. Howard, we've stolen a march on you!"
"I'm not surprised, sir," said Howard, as he came up in his slow and
languid way. "I am sorry to say that Stafford has an extremely bad
habit of getting up at unreasonable hours. I wait until I am dragged
out of bed by a fellow-creature or the pangs of hunger. Of course you
have been bathing, Staff? Early rising and an inordinate love of cold
water--externally--at all seasons are two of his ineradicable vices,
Sir Stephen. I have done my best to cure them, but--alas!"
They went in to breakfast, which was served in a room with bay windows
opening on to the terrace overlooking the lake. Exactly opposite
Stafford's chair was the little opening on the other side from which he
and the girl from Heron Hall had gazed at the villa.
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