'I have met him at my office.'
'The son is very intimate here. He takes a lively interest in what relates to dress.'
'Sir Barnaby was a bit of a buck.'
'Alas! he is now a cripple from rheumatism.'
'I was unaware that he was here. I will call and see him certainly. I have not been in Bath many days.'
'You are not surely going?' said Mrs. Tomkin-Jones, as her visitor rose. 'Run, Winefred, and get on your things. You desire her to be with you now, I take it.'
'If you please.'
When Winefred had left the room, the doctor's widow said:—'You will excuse the liberty I take, but the interest I feel in your engaging daughter, and the responsibility laid upon me, induce me to speak with a plainness from which I should otherwise shrink. I think, Mr. Holwood, that you have made a mistake. Gentlemen, widowers especially, are liable to fall into errors of judgment that produce results that are deplorable. You have—pardon the remark and my freedom in making it—you have committed a serious error in allowing your daughter to grow up under the influence of that woman.'
'That woman!' repeated Mr. Holwood timidly, and not having a latchkey to trifle with, put the brim of his hat to his lips.