'Will he stay long away? pray tell me.'
The Doctor looked into my troubled face with inquiring and darkened eyes, like one who half reads another's meaning; and then he said a little briskly, but not sharply—
'Well, I don't know, I'm sure, Miss; no, indeed, you must have mistaken; there's nothing that I know.'
There was a little pause, and he added—
'No. He never mentioned any friend to me.' I fancied that he was made uncomfortable by my question, and wanted to hide the truth. Perhaps I was partly right.
'Oh! Doctor Bryerly, pray, pray who is the friend, and where is he going?'
'I do assure you,' he said, with a strange sort of impatience, 'I don't know; it is all nonsense.'
And he turned to go, looking, I think, annoyed and disconcerted.
A terrific suspicion crossed my brain like lightning.