Ashton,"
replied his fellow-sharer in these strange quarters. "Didn't Mrs.
Killenhall ask you to come down for the same purpose, Mr. Viner?"
Viner, before he replied, looked round the room. Considering the extreme
shabbiness and squalour of the surrounding district, he was greatly
surprised to find that the apartment in which he and Miss Wickham waited
was extremely well furnished, if in an old-fashioned and rather heavy
way. The walls were panelled in dark, age-stained oak, to the height of
several feet; above the panelling were arranged good oil pictures, which
Viner would have liked to examine at his leisure; here and there, in
cabinets, were many promising curiosities; there were old silver and
brass things, and a shelf or two of well-bound books--altogether the
place and its effects were certainly not what Viner had expected to find
in such a quarter.
"Yes," he said at last, turning to his companion, "that's what I was
brought here for. Well--have you seen this doctor?"
"No," answered Miss Wickham. "Not yet."
"Know anything about him?" suggested Viner.
"Nothing whatever! I have heard of him," said Miss Wickham with a glance
of surprise.
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