"Eh, yes, I did."
Another long pause followed, which was painful alike to both.
The baron's agitation increased, and it did not need any great exercise of shrewdness to guess the cause. The lover guessed it intuitively, and deftly altered the topic which was just about to be broached.
"Poor Father Philip is gone," he exclaimed in a sympathetic tone.
"Ye-e-s," slowly assented the baron.
"And you miss him, I perceive," pursued the esquire tremulously.
"Very true, but—"
"And I hear Nicholas Bury is about to depart," hazarded Manners, interrupting the baron.
"Eh! what?" exclaimed Sir George. "Father Nicholas going?"
"He has informed Everard so."