Egerton Castle

“ His candles still held aloft, he gazed darkly for a long while. Presently something—perhaps a faint noise, perhaps that unmistakable feeling in silence and solitude of another living presence near—made him turn round sharply. The light fell upon a black figure framed in the white doorway. It was the Hanoverian, who was looking in with a smile that revealed the white row of teeth under the dark mustache—with shining eyes of singular expression.
The Englishman could not repress a start of anger; both the broadness of the grin and the fire of the eyes were more than the situation justified. ”

“ I can not help perceiving that you are not quite une bonne fourchetie as one might expect to find a man with such square shoulders. You shame my appetite—and my garrulity. Not one personal confidence of your own adventures! What ails you? You young Englishmen, traveled as you may be, are an oddly buttoned-up generation. Sir Jasper now, I'll warrant, would have capped every one of my tales with some thrilling experience of his own young days—aye, and, pardi, of his later ones! ”

“ The two strangers found themselves ushered into a morning room, the coldness of which was soon relieved by the lighting of a few candles and the crackling of a fire ready laid.
For a while there was a thoughtful silence. The captain stood before the hearth, legs apart in approved dragoon style. His companion sank into an armchair with equally self-possessed manner. And they took stock of each other.
They were much of an age; both in their middle twenties, perhaps twenty-eight; both men of good looks and of breeding, albeit in ways markedly contrasting. ”

“ And, I must declare, a better host I never knew. . It is quite impossible that he could have forgotten our arrangements for the Autumn.”
The young man in the armchair remained silent, gazing pensively at the ceiling.
“I really think,” resumed the ex-Brunswicker, after a musing pause, “that something ought to be done to find out what has happened to our friend—that good Sir Jasper!” He got up rather excitedly. “I wish—but I am myself hardly in a position to—but you, now, a relative; would you not think of making inquiries?” ”

“ The other had the clear-cut, regular, rather impassive cast of features which belongs to the best type of English manhood—the gray eyes of the self-reliant, looking straight and direct, observant, without being searching; the set lips, firm, rather disdainful, the lips of one who thinks more than he talks, who at least had rather listen at any time than hear his own voice. ”

“ It may help us on our quest. For this gentleman, like me, means to institute inquiries about the mysterious disappearance—inquiries which, I must say, might well have begun sooner.
“But nunc est bibendum, Fendall; in other words, fill and pass the bottle! And I further propose this,” went on the baron, growing perceptibly excited, “in which I am sure you will concur; namely, that Daniells here, being vice-host tonight, take a seat and have his wine with us. Informal, but picturesque and pleasant! And this evening's rencounter is nothing if not picturesque; don't you think so?” ”

“ Instead, I say, of solitude, which I hate. A meeting of friends. For do not the French have it, les amis de nos amis sont nos amis? And when I find myself, so to speak, your guest. It was your amiable suggestion to the butler. A friend of my old friend, Sir Jasper—why, a relative perhaps?”
The captain turned his head to look, with an engaging curiosity, at his companion.
“Yes—you are right. I may call myself a kind of relative. But I must decline any claim to the honor of being host at Stanton Manor. We are both guests here tonight. A quaint situation—guests of Mr. Daniells, the butler.” ”

“ There is no one whose company, I think, is so enjoyable as that of a traveled Englishman. I am in luck. For, in this curious accident, I was like to spend a rather tiresome evening—either to return to Salisbury behind a pair of tired horses, or to remain solus and bored in a deserted house. ”