"Can that be—why, yes, it is Tony!" cried Esther, recognising Lady
Clifford's pet. "He must have slipped out. Here, Tony, Tony!"
The Aberdeen turned and bent upon her an inquiring eye, smiled coyly, dog fashion, wagged his brief tail, then, instead of coming closer, wheeled about and dashed off down the avenue.
"That's not like him," Roger said. "He's always such an obedient dog.
Tony, here, Tony!"
Tony, however, had a mind of his own. Paying no heed to Roger's whistle, he ran without stopping until he joined, far in the distance, two figures who were walking slowly in the opposite direction.
"He's evidently with someone," Roger remarked. "A man and a woman.
Can your long-sighted eyes see who they are?"
In the growing dusk it was not easy to tell, but there was something familiar in the big, heavy frame of the man.
"It looks like the doctor," Esther said, hesitating. "And I believe the woman is Lady Clifford."
As she spoke the pair separated, the woman went on, the dog following, and the man turned and came back along the avenue. It was the doctor, there was no doubt about it now.
"I have scarcely ever seen Thérèse out walking before. I wonder what has come over her?" Roger said as they quickened their pace again. "What are you in such a hurry for? Don't you want the doctor to see you?"
"It isn't that; I only feel I'd like to be home first," Esther excused herself, not quite sure of her own reasons for trying to escape Sartorius's notice.