Bernard Dale was never bright; and as for Johnny Eames--; but in this matter of brightness, Johnny Eames had not yet shown to the world what his character might be.
It was now two years since Crofts had been called upon for medical advice on behalf of his friend Mrs Dale.

She had then been ill for a long period--some two or three months, and Dr Crofts had been frequent in his visits at Allington.

At that time he became very intimate with Mrs Dale's daughters, and especially so with the eldest.

Young unmarried doctors ought perhaps to be excluded from homes in which there are young ladies.

I know, at any rate, that many sage matrons hold very strongly to that opinion, thinking, no doubt, that doctors ought to get themselves married before they venture to begin working for a living.