"Then I shall see all my friends while I am in the Forest," said Bessie, very glad.
"Yes, and as pleased they will be to see you. Mother, Bessie might walk to Brook with me before tea. They will be uncommonly gratified, and she will get over to us many another day," Mr. Carnegie proposed.
"Yes, Thomas, if it will not overtire her."
"Oh, nothing overtires me," said Bessie. "Let us go by Great-Ash Ford."
Before they started the doctor had a word or two with his wife alone. He wanted to hear what she had made out from dear Bessie herself respecting that grand gentleman, the member of Parliament, who by Lady Latimer's account was her suitor some time ago and still.
"I am puzzled, Thomas, and that is the truth—girls are so deep," Mrs. Carnegie said.
"Too deep sometimes for their own comprehension—eh? At any rate, she is not moping and pining. She is as fresh as a rose, and her health and spirits are all right. I don't remember when I have felt so thankful as at the sight of her bonny face to-day."