"I'm going back to the jam factory."
"May I walk with you?"
"Certainly, if you don't mind my eating as I go along."
The clergyman turned with him and went beside him in silence, as Frank, drawing out of his side-pocket a large hunch of bread and cheese, wrapped up in the advertisement sheet of the Daily Mail, began to fill his mouth.
"I want to know if you've had any news from home."
Frank turned to him slightly.
"No," he said sharply, after a pause.
Mr. Parham-Carter licked his lips.
"Well—no, it isn't bad news; but I wondered whether—"
"What is it?"