There were many younger men with whom he was very intimate,--Frank Gresham, for instance, and Lord Lufton himself; but this was an affair which he hardly knew how to discuss with a young man.

To Dr.Thorne he thought that he could bring himself to tell the whole story.
In the evening there came to him a messenger from Plumstead, with a letter from his father and some present for the child.

He knew at once that the present had been thus sent as an excuse for the letter.
His father might have written by the post, of course; but that would have given to his letter a certain air and tone which he had not wished it to bear.

After some message from the major's mother, and some allusion to Edith, the archdeacon struck off upon the matter that was near his heart.
"I fear it is all up with that unfortunate man at Hogglestock," he said.

"From what I hear of the evidence which came out before the magistrates, there can, I think, be no doubt as to his guilt.