“Well, sir, I have told you all I came to tell, and now I must go. But I shall be in this neighborhood for a few days longer, if anybody wants to ask me any questions about this matter.”
The doctor also arose and said:
“I thank you, Mr. Carter, for the trouble you are taking, and shall, perhaps, have occasion to see you again. You will be at the Stag?”
“Yes, mostly, for the rest of this week; but I shall be riding round a good deal in the daytime, looking at land, but always at home—leastways at the hotel—at night, and shall be glad to see you or any one you send. Good-morning, sir.”
“Good-morning, Mr. Carter.”
And the visitor left.
The doctor sat ruminating over what he had heard for some time after he had been left alone.
At length, when his office hours were over, instead of taking his noontide meal and rest as a preparation for his afternoon round of professional visits, he rang for his servant, ordered his horse, and started on a ride to the Cliffs.
He did not go to the mansion house, but taking a narrow bridle path through the woods to the creek, he crossed the little rustic bridge, and drew up at the log hut in the thicket on the other side.
Here he dismounted, tied his horse to a tree, and went up to the door, where he found old Adah sitting in the sun, and busy with her knitting.