“Believe me, Bennet,” cried the converted doctor, “if I thought young Goodall would come across and capture those villains in whom I, too, have been grossly deceived, I would leave him all I have.”
“What a change has come over you, doctor!” exclaimed Mrs Bennet.
“I own to that,” said the doctor, “and I will tell you why and all about it soon, but I must go now and wire, for there is no believing anybody in these days. But see, Bennet, the balloon is fast driving towards Newhaven.”
“Yes, she certainly is,” said the gamekeeper, “and I trust that none of us will tell the young ladies or the squire, for to-day at anyrate, what we have been talking about, as it would be cruel to increase their troubles at a moment like the present.”
After the doctor had bowed assent to this suggestion, he hurried away. The balloon was then travelling coastwards.
CHAPTER XVIII
WAITING FOR NEWS
When Edith Dove and Miss Chain met on the morning after the storm, the weather had much improved, and they eagerly awaited Goodall’s joining them at the breakfast table, to hear how the balloon had fared during the night. Their surprise was, therefore, very great when the squire came in and announced that they might look for Goodall in vain, at anyrate for the present, as he had ascended soon after sunrise, the atmosphere being so inviting that he preferred to dry his balloon in the sun’s rays instead of retaining it in the wet park.
“And do you think, my dear father, that Mr Goodall would act in that way without any intimation of leaving us so suddenly?” said Edith, with some degree of feeling.
“He left us most affectionate remembrances,” replied the squire, “so Bennet tells me, for I have been down the park and have only this minute returned.”
“Did Mr Goodall go alone, papa?”