"
"Did he leave the order you spoke of just now behind him?"
"Yes, sir. He wanted me to give it back to him; but I said I must keep
it for you to see. So then he laughed, and made the remark that he
supposed, if he brought the lady to see the place, I would let him in
again. A pleasant-spoken gentleman, sir--gave me a shilling, though I
told him I did not require it."
Meantime I was reading the order, written by Taylor, and dated two
years back.
"What sort of looking man was he?" I asked.
"Well, sir, there was not anything particular about him in any way.
Not a tall gentleman, not near so tall as you, sir; getting into
years, but still very active and light-footed, though with something
of a halt in his way of walking. I could not rightly make out what it
was; nor what it was that caused him to look a little crooked when you
saw him from behind.
"Very lean, sir; looked as if the dinners he had eaten done him no good.
Seemed as if, for all his pleasant ways, he must have seen trouble, his
face was so worn-like."
"Did he say if he thought the house would suit?" I inquired.
"He said it was a very nice house, sir, and that he imagined anybody not
afraid of ghosts might spend two thousand a year in it very comfortably.
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