CHAPTER XXVIII
"LIKE LUCIFER"
Mr. Heriot himself showed Jan to his room, the spare bedroom on the private side of the house, where he was to remain until he went. All his belongings had been brought down from dormitory, and some few already from his study. The bed was made and turned clown, with clean sheets as if for a guest; and there was an adjoining dressing-room at his disposal, with the gas lit and hot water placed in readiness by some unenlightened maid.
This led Heriot to explain, gruffly enough, the special consideration to which Mr. Thrale had referred.
"The whole thing's a secret from the house so far, and of course the servants don't know anything about it. They probably think you're suspected of measles, not strongly enough for the Sanatorium but too strongly for the sick-room in the boys' part. I shall allow that impression to prevail until—as long as you remain."
"Thank you, sir."
"I remember better days, Rutter; we had seen a good many together before you came to anything like this, I'm quite sure." His glasses flashed. "Yet all the time"
He stopped himself as before, turned on his heel and shut a window which he had opened on entering the room. And now Jan grasped what it was that his house-master kept remembering, but could not trust himself to
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