"Eh? Who's lurking around in the dark?" Merlin blew a stream of smoke out and squinted into the darkness as if he didn't know exactly who it was. "You never seen a pipe smoked before?" It was a proprietary blend of his own invention, tobacco and a few other herbs thrown in. Pipe smoke smelled different to cigarettes or cigars anyway.
The boy looked taller than Merlin remembered, but then he had been kind of crouched on the floor last time he'd seen him. He beckoned with his free hand and in a voice not too unkind, said, "Come closer boy. I can't abide lurkers."