“We’ll pay you all the same,” said Caleb with dignity.
“But how am I to get back to Chipstone?” He had followed Maria in reckless abandonment, and now came the prose of life with its questions.
“If we’re going to pay the gentleman,” put in Martha, “he may as well have a look at Maria.”
Mr. Skindle agreed it was as well to make a possible future patient’s acquaintance, but repeated his inquiry.
“There’s Shanks’s mare,” said Jinny blandly.
Caleb pointed towards the brook. “It’s onny seven miles by Swash End through Plashy Walk.”
“Plashy Hall has a dog,” objected Elijah.
“Well, you’re used to dogs,” said Jinny.
“My instrument-case is too heavy. You’ll have to give me a lift to your house.”
“With pleasure,” she said. “But Blackwater Hall is still farther from Chipstone.”