"Put him nearer to me, please. I will look at him again—whether he does seem ill. And how late you will be at church!"
"Not very: the bell is going yet," said Mr. Grubb. He placed the infant where she could look at it closely; gave her a farewell kiss, and departed. Adela rang for the nurse.
"You may throw away all the stupid gruel, nurse. I shall not let the baby have any more of it."
[CHAPTER IX.]
JOSEPH HORN'S TESTIMONY.
"Some one is waiting to see you, sir," said one of Mr. Grubb's servants to him, as he entered the house on his return from church.
"Who is it?"
"Mr. Dalrymple's man, sir. He has been waiting nearly an hour."
Reuben came forward from the back of the hall. The moment Mr. Grubb caught sight of his face, usually so full of healthy bloom, now pale and woe-begone, he was seized with a presentiment of evil.
"Come into the library, Reuben," he said. "Have you brought ill news of any kind?" he added, shutting the door. "What is it?"