"With your permission, Sutherland, I'll have an hour's rest," he said. "I tumbled in here--what with the cold and feeling desperately hungry; nothing like sea-sickness for giving a man an appetite afterwards--without ever asking for my apartment. Thank you for your hospitality, old fellow--you see I mean to take advantage of it--and we'll talk this all over after dinner. I say, what a famous snug place you've got! There's another grievance of that said Armitage Hall, which the fellows there would have you believe a paradise. Not a room in the house that does not want half a dozen people about to make it look inhabited; not a chance for a snug chat like what we've just had. Suppose a mite of a fellow like me crouching by a fire that could roast me, shut in by a screen in a room that would hold half the county!--ugh! the thought is enough. Here we are!--famous!--there's a fire!--I'll bet you sixpence my man lighted that fire. He has a genius for that sort of thing. I'll tell him to communicate his secret to your people here." "I suspect," said the Colonel, with a smile, but a momentary pique, "the fabric was built by the maid; but I hope you'll find the place comfortable. Take care you don't injure your night's rest by resting through the day--dinner at six--nobody but ourselves. You will find me downstairs whenever you please, but don't think you're in the least degree called upon to make your appearance before dinner." Then the Colonel went downstairs and stepped into a little side-room, in which he sometimes indulged himself with a modest cigar, while the dining-room was being cleared of all the litter brought by his visitor. Colonel Sutherland was an orderly man by nature; he did not like to see the coats and rugs and mufflers lying about on his chairs, and smiled to himself with a little perplexity over that guest, who was so singularly unlike himself. He was not quite certain as yet how they should "get on," though very confident in Sir John's good meaning and his own good temper. Presently Patchey came to consult him about the dinner, and to state that the cook would gladly have an audience of her master, which, with a little reluctance, the Colonel accorded. An arrival so sudden, and of so important a person, was no small event at Milnehill. CHAPTER XIII.