"Come again! Come when you like!" Sir Richard said to Dick after he had exchanged a few words with the doctor.
"Oh, thank you!" the little boy replied, thinking how much pleasanter his grandfather seemed to-day than on the occasion of his first visit to the Manor House. "I have enjoyed myself so much! May I come again soon?"
"Yes," the old man nodded, looking gratified. He turned to Dr. Warren, and added: "The child appears brighter and stronger already!"
"Ah, the scaffolding is sound enough," the doctor returned quaintly; "there's a good frame-work to build upon; we'll soon put a little flesh on his bones!"
Sir Richard watched the gig as it slowly disappeared from sight, Firefly taking his time as usual. At that moment he almost wished he had consented to make a home for his grandson at the Manor House; he felt lonely now he was gone. Nero came and poked his cold, damp nose into his master's hand, and looked up into the old man's face with his expressive eyes.
"Are you sorry your playfellow has left?" said Sir Richard, as he gently patted his favourite's head. "Would you, too, have liked him to remain? Never mind, Nero, he will come again!"
[CHAPTER VIII]
A MORNING DRIVE
"DID Sir Richard say anything to you in reference to his expecting visitors next month, Dick?" Miss Warren asked at the breakfast-table the following morning. "He usually has his daughter and her children to stay with him during August. I wonder if they are coming this year?"
"Yes; he said they were," Dick replied. "I meant to have told you last night; but I was thinking so much of the secret passage that I forgot everything else. Grandfather didn't tell me much about them!"