Good folk are scarce, you know; and it is not every one that would be quite so much missed as yourself.

It is not every one that Hermiston would miss." And with a nod and a smile, the doctor passed on.
A moment after, Archie was in pursuit, and had in turn, but more roughly, seized him by the arm.
"What do you mean?
what did you mean by saying that?
What makes you think that Hermis--my father would have missed me ?" The doctor turned about and looked him all over with a clinical eye.

A far more stupid man than Dr.Gregory might have guessed the truth; but ninety-nine out of a hundred, even if they had been equally inclined to kindness, would have blundered by some touch of charitable exaggeration.
The doctor was better inspired.

He knew the father well; in that white face of intelligence and suffering, he divined something of the son; and he told, without apology or adornment, the plain truth.
"When you had the measles, Mr.Archibald, you had them gey and ill; and I thought you were going to slip between my fingers," he said.

"Well, your father was anxious.