Belike he is off upon a dirty mission to some German principality no bigger than your back-garden; ambassadors of his size are as easy to find on the Continent of Europe as a needle in a bottle of hay.

Or maybe he wanders on some gaming campaign of his own." The face of Captain Runacles, as the Doctor proceeded, went through three rapid changes of colour--white, scarlet and purple.
"You knew all this ?" he shouted, the congested veins standing out upon his temples; "you knew all this, and kept us in the dark ?" "I did.

It affected the child in no way.

The fellow clearly knew nothing, or cared nothing, about Tristram.

Even supposing--which was absurd--that he would wish to burden himself with the boy, I felt pretty sure of Barker's ability to cope with him at the briefest notice.