"One can't tell. Don't mention this again, but I saw Duncan yesterday afternoon, and pressed for an opinion. He confessed he had seen for some time that my father was very much out of health, and he thought the matter ought not to be left. He would not say anything more definite."
"And that is why you are so grave to-day?"
The answer was evasive. "One can't help being uneasy. Jamie is not a man to look on the dismal side without some reason. Things may be better than he expects; but I don't understand my father's state, mental or bodily. He seems to take depressed views all round. Did you know that he objected to Oxford for me?"
"No!"
"Doesn't like the expense."
"But, Nigel—why, what absurdity! As if that had not been settled years ago!"
"He says he cannot afford it. Don't tell the girls."
"No—" with a glow of pleasure at his confidence. "But what can padre mean?"
"That is all he says—too much expense—and the Bar too uncertain. He talks of an appointment at the Bank."
"Newton Bury Bank! Nonsense! A clerk on a three-logged stool, under Mr. Bramble!"