I do not know that he ever made a friend of any
one but his sister Dorothy. They were on the Continent for a year after
that affair, and she died in Italy. He was a changed man when he came
home, and he married a woman of good family, but nobody was, perhaps,
more of a stranger to him than his own wife. It was generally remarked.
And he seemed to care as little for her children as he did for her. I
have often been surprised to see that he was indifferent whether they
came to Abbotsmead or not; yet the death of Mr. Geoffry, your father,
hurt him severely, and Mr. Frederick's will be no less a pain."
"I wish I had not vexed him about my uncle Laurence's boys. We were
becoming good friends before," said Bessie.
"Oh, the squire will not bear malice for that. He discriminates between
the generosity of your intention towards the children, and what he
probably mistook for a will to rule himself. He acted very perversely in
going out of the way."
"Does my uncle Laurence know the news you bring?"
"Yes, but he desired me to be the first medium of it. Jonquil is a long
while seeking his master."
A very long while. So long that Bessie rang the bell to inquire, and
the little page answered it. The master was not come in, he said; they
had sent every way to find him. Bessie rose in haste, and followed by
Mr. John Short went along the passage to her grandfather's private room.
That was dark and empty, and so was the lobby by which it communicated
with the garden and the way to the stables.
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