In his straightforwardness he showed the letter to the dowager, who nodded her head approvingly, but told no tales.
And so his days went on in the society of the two women at Hartledon; and if he found himself oppressed with _ennui_ at first, he subsided into a flirtation with Maude, and forgot care.

Elster's folly! He was not hearing from Anne, for it was thought better that even notes should not pass out of the Rectory.
Curiously to relate, the first person beyond the Rectory to take the illness was the man Pike.

How he could have caught it was a marvel to Calne.

And yet, if Lady Kirton's theory were correct, that infection was conveyed by clothes, it might be accounted for, and Clerk Gum be deemed the culprit.

One evening after the clerk had been for some little time at the Rectory with Dr.Ashton, he met Pike in going out; had brushed close to him in passing, as he well remembered.