“Here or there?”
“Oh, come on here,” cried the curate; and, with a kindly message for Leo and a hearty shake of the hand to each, the doctor hurried away.
“I am glad he’s back,” said the curate seriously. “Aren’t you, Mary?”
“Very,” she replied. “We miss our friends.”
“Yes, and he is a good old fellow as ever stepped; so frank, so manly, and straightforward. I don’t know what the poor people here would do if he were to leave.”
“You don’t think he will leave?” said Mary anxiously.
“Leave? Not he. He likes his old home too well. I say, though, seriously, dear, you don’t think he cares for Mrs Berens?”
“Oh, no, Hartley,” said Mary, with a confident smile. “I am sure he thinks of nothing but his profession.”
“Exactly. I often think the same, but I often wish something.”
“What, dear?” said Mary earnestly.