Yet it was not going to be as awkward as she had feared.

With a decided sense of relief she realised that Dr.Callandar looked exactly like a doctor after all! Convention, even in clothes, has a calming effect.

There was little of the weary tramp who had quenched his throat at the school pump in the well groomed and quietly capable looking doctor.

With a notable decrease of tension Esther saw that the man before her was a stranger, a pleasant, professional stranger, with whom no embarrassment was possible.
As for him he realised nothing except that Coombe was really a delightful place.

He felt glad that he had stayed.
"No one ill, I hope, Miss Coombe ?" His tone, even, seemed to have lost the whimsical inflection of the tramp.
"No, Doctor.