As they rode on Mr Groocock kept frequently looking up at him.
“If it’s not an impertinent question, Captain Headland, may I ask if you have been in this part of the country before?”
“No,” answered Headland. “I have been very little in England at all. I was born abroad, and have been at sea the greater part of my life.”
“Of course—of course; I ought to have thought of that,” said Mr Groocock to himself; then he added, “I beg your pardon, captain, but you remind me of some one I knew in former years—that made me ask the question without thinking; you are much younger than he would have been by this time.”
Headland would willingly have enquired of whom the steward spoke, but the old man at once abruptly changed the conversation, and they shortly afterwards reached the gates of Texford.
The evening passed by much as the previous one had done, though Lady Castleton and Julia had become still more anxious at not seeing Harry.
Julia thought of poor May, who would, she knew, feel still more anxious, and she resolved, if possible, to go over to Downside the next day to see her, and show her sympathy.