"What do you suppose to be the matter with him?"
Dr. Duncan buttoned his glove.
"Eh what's wrong with the man?"
"I can say nothing definite. He is not as he should be. Good-bye."
"But, hallo—I say!" And Mr. Carden-Cox sprang up. "Am I to quote you?"
Dr. Duncan looked down from his superior height, smiling again. "No," he said, and vanished.
"Knew he meant that," growled Mr. Carden-Cox, dropping back into the easy-chair. "Extraordinary! Browning ill! Browning! I should have said he was as jolly and well-to-do a man as any alive. But Duncan doesn't speak without reason. Well, I must obey orders, I suppose. What next? Hey? Yes—come in! Nigel this time?"
The two shook hands quietly, and fell into a talk. Nobody would have guessed, looking on, how long they had been apart, nor how much the reunion meant to the elder man.
Nigel's brightness of manner was a little forced. He had been again to the Rectory, and both Malcolm and Ethel were out. Only Mrs. Elvey had received him; and Mrs. Elvey was not a reviving person.