At this point, Miss Dove gave her father a look which he appeared to understand, for the financier was not, for a time, further mentioned.
Poor Miss Chain had not yet seen whether the likeness on the wall, and the “shadow man” represented one and the same person, but she strongly suspected that it was so, though she and the captain suppressed their curiosity for a while, but they had their misgivings; and as to the squire and his daughter, they both saw that they had been treading upon dangerous ground, and that the mystery could not very well be cleared up just then, so by way of changing the subject, Squire Dove asked the aeronaut if he intended dropping in Wedwell Park.
“I am afraid I came to you, more from necessity than desire,” was the candid reply. “We were advancing towards the sea, after having journeyed by a strong upper current over the clouds from Essex, when your property, squire, was found to be the most suitable and tempting spot on which to alight.”
“Then what induced you to hesitate, if I may take the liberty of asking, before you at length condescended to drop among us?”
“We were divided in opinion as to the advisability of coming down; but your persuasive invitation, coupled with Miss Dove’s appeal, decided me to do so, though I certainly doubted whether ballooning would be acceptable to you.”
“I hope,” said Miss Dove, “that Doctor Peters’s rude remark did not give offence.”
“I hope not,” added the squire. “He is an obstinate man, but I was not aware that he felt a prejudice against aerial research.”
“It may be,” said the aeronaut, “that he is in the confidence of the gentleman whose photo faces me.”
“Umph!” thought the captain, “Harry is fizzing like a bottle of champagne in his balloon car.”
“Yes,” replied the squire, “Doctor Peters and our expected visitor may or may not entertain similar views, but I never heard them allude to aerostatics or balloonists.”