"Certainly, my dear, certainly! That is, there is plenty of hope, Miss Lizzie. Bless my soul! plenty of hope. You see, we've extracted all the shot (Lizzie shuddered), and he's a strong and hearty young fellow, and he'll be round again before we know where we are." "Thank you, doctor," Lizzie said, pressing his arm: the doctor felt that her simple words expressed more then than a hundred sentences might have done from others. The doctor saw her home, and cheered her up wonderfully, so that she actually laughed before she quitted him at the parsonage gate. They seemed to have a secret understanding about the wounded hero, although neither had expressed it in words. Indeed, Doctor Jolly had been so much taken up in soothing his companion, that he quite forgot to mention anything about Susan's being missed. And all the time, the hours were gliding by, and the chances for her recovery were becoming more and more indefinite. Verily! a very pretty kettle of fish. Volume 2, Chapter II. AT HAVRE AND LONDON. Late on the evening of the day after the marriage in London, Markworth and his charge--lately his "sister," now _Madame sa femme_--arrived at the half-seaport town, half-fashionable watering place of _Havre-de-Grace_, at the mouth of the slowly running Seine, tawny as the yellow Tiber. Susan had not been brought to the Continent without serious prior deliberation. Markworth, in the first place, wished to avoid observation at the present time; and he was so well-known in London, that he thought it would be folly to remain there any longer than necessary; and, in the second place, he wanted to secure a quiet retreat wherein to lodge Susan. He determined, of course, to keep his hold on her until her friends were assured of the marriage; and as she might be traced, and he, perhaps, arrested for abducting the girl, before he was able to lay a legal claim to her inheritance, the best plan for him to pursue was to "go across the water," as he expressed it, for awhile--as, indeed, a good many other gentlemen, who have sympathising friends amongst the trading interests of the great city of Babylon-the-Less have done, and annually do still. What place so convenient, he thought, as Havre? So to Havre he accordingly ran over the next day, and in that pleasant little town he sat down awhile, to consider what his next movement should be, as he had to study each move carefully. He had plenty of money for present expenses; he had "the goose;" the only thing now to do was to get the "golden eggs." As he had gone so far, he certainly was not going to be baulked now, he thought. And his chances must have been good, or that cautious old Jew, Solomonson, would not have "backed him." He had only got to play his cards properly, and look about him awhile. That was all! Yes, that was all. He could not have chosen a more convenient and comfortable place in France, all things considered, for his purpose.