The Meadows of the Moon

At twilight a train from London deposited a man and a little girl at Patchley station. The man was grey-haired, though tall and of soldierly bearing, and the little girl was so tired that she could hardly drag one foot after the other. In the station-yard a pair-horse landau waited, and the coachman, as soon as he saw the couple, stepped down from his perch, touched his cap, and said: “Excuse me, sir, but are you Mr. Cordeiro?”

The other answered him in perfect English, but with a slight foreign accent. “That is my name. You are from Sky Peals, I presume?”

“Yes, sir. Will you kindly step inside?”