"Don't trouble, Bessy; I have had breakfast. Ah, Richard, how d'ye do?"
"You have had breakfast!" repeated Bessy. "At the farm?"
"Yes; they gave me some."
"Oh dear! won't you take a bit of the ham, or some of the mushrooms, Oliver? They are so good. And I waited."
"I am sorry you should wait. No, I can't eat two breakfasts. You must eat for me and yourself, Bessy."
Dr. Rane sat down in his own chair at the table, turning it towards Richard, and took up the letters. Selecting the one from Mr. Lynch, he was about to open it when Bessy, who was now beginning her breakfast, spoke.
"Oliver, I have told Richard about it--what we think of doing?"
Dr. Rane's glance went out for a moment to his brother-in-law's, and met it. He made the best of the situation, smiled gaily, and put down the letter unopened.
"Are you surprised, Richard?" he asked.
"Very much, indeed. Had a stranger told me I was going to leave Dallory myself--and, indeed, that may well come to pass, with this strike in the air--I should as soon have believed it. Shall you be doing well to go, do you think, Rane?"