Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III Since the change of trains at six o'clock, the journey had been painfully slow, and now he glanced at the name on the white board again, to assure himself that he had actually arrived. Across the palings of the little gravelled station the view was dark and dispiriting, and after two labourers had crossed the line, he, and the youth who took his ticket, had the platform to themselves. No conveyance was waiting, the youth said firmly, but it was conceded, in colloquy with a companion who answered to "Hi, Jock," that a trap might be obtained. Croft Court was about two miles distant, and Oakenhurst—or as much of it as the few widely- divided lamps permitted Maurice to see from the trap—looked forlorn. The place seemed to him to consist of long black roads, punctuated by the glimmer of saddened ale-houses. It had often occurred to him that he might address the wrong man as "Father," if any other were present, and he was considering the possibility of the blunder again when the lodge gates were reached. He reverted to the conviction thatthe Baronet would desire to be alone at such a time, but in the drive through the long avenue his heart beat thickly. He had been unprepared for the size of the house, and the appearance of the dim quadrangle staggered him. The driver pulled up at an entrance that suggested a monastery; and when Maurice was admitted, before the bell ceased clanging, his glimpse of the interior startled him almost as much as the approach. An instant, however, sufficed to show him that it was a servant who had hastened to the door. "Where's Sir Noel?" he said. "Tell him I'm here—say 'his son'!" He strode inside as he spoke; and then he saw, in the great wainscoted hall, with its Gobelins tapestries—which were strange to him—and its antlers, a...