I said in an absent way: "I used to live in England, and now I am
come back again; and I slept last night at the Hammersmith Guest
House."

He bowed gravely, but seemed, I thought, a little disappointed with
my answer. As for me, I was now looking at him harder than good
manners allowed of; perhaps; for in truth his face, dried-apple-like
as it was, seemed strangely familiar to me; as if I had seen it
before--in a looking-glass it might be, said I to myself.

"Well," said the old man, "wherever you come from, you are come among
friends. And I see my kinsman Richard Hammond has an air about him
as if he had brought you here for me to do something for you. Is
that so, Dick?"

Dick, who was getting still more absent-minded and kept looking
uneasily at the door, managed to say, "Well, yes, kinsman: our guest
finds things much altered, and cannot understand it; nor can I; so I
thought I would bring him to you, since you know more of all that has
happened within the last two hundred years than any body else does.--
What's that?"

And he turned toward the door again. We heard footsteps outside; the
door opened, and in came a very beautiful young woman, who stopped
short on seeing Dick, and flushed as red as a rose, but faced him
nevertheless. Dick looked at her hard, and half reached out his hand
toward her, and his whole face quivered with emotion.

The old man did not leave them long in this shy discomfort, but said,