"Lost that too?" said his entertainer, with some surprise.
"I am afraid so," said the man, with some confusion "Give it to me
in a screw of paper."
Lighting his pipe at the candle with a suction that drew the whole
flame into the bowl, he resettled himself in the corner, and bent
his looks upon the faint steam from his damp legs as if he wished
say no more.
Meanwhile the general body of guests had been taking little notice
of this visitor by reason of an absorbing discussion in which they
were engaged with the band about a tune for the next dance The matter
being settled, they were about to stand up, when an interruption
came in the shape of another knock at the door.
At sound of the same the man in the chimney-corner took up the
poker and began stirring the fire as if doing it thoroughly were
the one aim of his existence, and a second time the shepherd said,
"Walk in!" In a moment another man stood upon the straw-woven
door-mat. He too was a stranger.
This individual was one of a type radically different from
the first. There was more of the commonplace in his manner, and a
certain jovial cosmopolitanism sat upon his features. He was several
years older than the first arrival, his hair being slightly frosted,
his eyebrows bristly, and his whiskers cut back from his cheeks.
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