The two young people waited for the doctor at the breakfast-table, but Mr. Barlow did not keep him long; then passed the usually silent meal to its close, but not before Dick peeped in at the rose-wreathed window, and intimated by sundry nods that Jenny and the donkey and cart were waiting outside in the lane. Away went the busy doctor into the passage, just as Inna was saying—
“Oscar, you haven’t told uncle—you ought, you know.”
So Oscar, in the spirit of obedience for once, followed him.
“Uncle, may I and Inna go with Dick Gregory and his sister to Swallow’s Cliff to-day?” he asked.
“Swallow’s Cliff—that’s rather a long walk for a young lady.”
[p123]
“Only three miles, sir, as the crow flies,” put in Dick, appearing from somewhere.
“Yes; but as you’re not crows, and can’t fly, into the bargain, ’twould mean more than that to you—or rather, ’tis Inna I’m thinking of,” still objected the doctor.
“You forget the donkey-cart, Dr. Willett; the young ladies will ride—all of them,” observed Dick.
“All?” the doctor stood ready to start.
“Yes, sir; there are four of them: the mid——, Madame Giche’s nieces, Miss Inna, and my sister Jenny.”