He was a tall, well-made man, with badly-fitting clothes, rather tumbled linen, imperfectly brushed hair and hat, and some want of that fresh cleanliness and finish of general appearance which went to my idea of a gentleman's outside.

I found him a warm-hearted, cold-mannered man, with a clear, strong head, and a shrewdness of observation which recalled the Rector to my mind more than once.

The tones of his voice made me start sometimes, they were so like the voice that I could never hear again in this life.

He spoke always in the broad dialect into which the Rector was only wont to relapse in moments of excitement.
A carriage, better appointed than the owner, and a man-servant rather less so, were waiting, and took us to Oak Mount.

In the hall our host apologized for the absence of Mrs.Andrewes, who was at the sea-side, out of health.
"But Betty 'll do her best to make you comfortable, sir," he said to my father, and turning to a middle-aged woman with a hard-featured, sensible face, and very golden hair tightly braided to her head, who was already busy with our luggage, he added, "You've got something for us to eat, Betty, I suppose ?" "T' supper 'll be ready by you're ready for it," said Betty, when she had finished her orders to the man who was taking our things upstairs.
"But when folks is come off on a journey, they'll be glad to wash their 'ands, and I've took hot water into both their rooms." The maid's familiarity startled me.