"All right."
"We will begin breakfast," said Hugh. He was turning to go.
"Is that lawyer man back from Scotland?" asked Drayton.
"Bonnithorne? He's here—he didn't say that he'd been away," said Hugh.
"All right."
Hugh Ritson returned to the bed-head. "Have you heard," he said in a subdued voice, "that the doctors have operated on the girl Mercy, and that she is likely to regain her sight?"
"Eh? What?" Drayton had started up in bed. Then rolling down his sleeves and buttoning them leisurely, he added: "But that ain't nothing to me."
Hugh Ritson left the room. He was in spirits indeed, for he had borne even this encounter with equanimity. As he passed through the house, Brother Peter entered at the porch with a letter in his hand.
"Is Parson Christian coming?" said Hugh.
"Don't know 'at I've heard," said Peter. "He's boddered me to fetch ye a scribe of a line. Here 'tis."