‘And how do you do, my dear Mr. Hare? Who would have expected to see you here? I am so glad.’
These words were spoken frankly and cordially, and there was a note of mundane cheerfulness in the voice which did not quite correspond with the sacerdotal elegance of this young man. Then he added quickly, as if to save himself from asking the reason of this very unexpected visit:
‘You’ll stay and dine? I’ll show you over the college: you have never been here before…. Now I come to reckon it up, I find I have not seen you for nearly five years.’
‘It must be very nearly that; I missed you the last time you were at
Thornby Place, and that was three years ago.’
‘Three years! It sounds very shocking, doesn’t it, to have a beautiful place in Sussex and not to live there?’
The conversation paused
