They could not conceive how their mother could refrain from an offer of tea.

But, as it was, she gave the young man a sharp glance and questioned him further.

Where had he come from?
When had he arrived?
He had come, he said, from the next station on the railway.

He had been looking there, and in many other places, for an opening for his work, and for various reasons he had now decided that Chellaston was a more eligible place than any.

He had come in the early morning, and had called on the doctor and on Principal Trenholme of the College.