“The excellent vicar should be his tutor and look after his education, and the amiable doctor should be his physician and look after his health.
“Francis, my dear brother, would visit me often, I felt sure. My father would come sometimes. These were all I really cared to see.
“We should be happy—my little son and I—in spite of all that had passed. He would never, from his father’s example, grow up to become a gambler, a wine bibber, or an adventurer. He should be trained to become an honor to his name and a blessing to his tenantry.
“Thinking these pleasant thoughts I fell asleep at last and realized all my anticipations—in my dreams!
“The next day, and every day for a week, Angus Anglesea came to see me.
“He no longer spoke of Saviola; but he talked to me of my dear brother, his own dearest friend—a theme of which I never tired. He told me that his ardent studies at Eton had overtasked his strength. His physicians recommended a long vacation, and a total change of air and scene. Therefore, he accompanied his father and stepmother to the Canaries—Dr. Alexander and the Rev. Dr. Clement, of Weirdwaste, attending the party, as traveling physician and private tutor.
“‘So,’ said I, ‘that is the reason why none of my letters addressed to my old friends at Weirdwaste were ever answered. But since the vicar and the doctor were conscripted for foreign service, who, may I ask, was left to take charge of the souls and bodies of the poor people at Weirdwaste?’
“‘My child, clergymen and physicians are as plenty as wild berries. A curate without a parish and a doctor without a practice were easily found to fill the places of the hard-worked and badly paid old vicar and doctor, who needed rest and change about as much as any of the traveling party.’
“‘So all my friends are in the Canaries!’
“‘Except myself, Elfrida. I am here, and I will remain near you, to guard you as an elder brother, until your fate is decided.’