When the following day dawned upon the Abbey of Brigland, and the guests there visiting had an opportunity, unconstrained by the presence of the tenant of the great house, to discuss and discourse upon the interesting topic of the discovery of the preceding day, various and wise were the observations which they made; but one of the wisest of all was, that it would be desirable for them to hasten their departure; for it occurred to them that Mr. Philip might prefer being alone, now he had so much to occupy his thoughts. Sir Andrew Featherstone and his family recollected that it was absolutely necessary that they should be at home in a day or two, for they were expecting company. The Misses Woodstock also thought that it was very rude of Mr. John Martindale to take his departure so suddenly, and leave them without an apology; and Lady Woodstock thought that, though visiting at the Abbey, her visit was rather to Mr. John Martindale than to Mr. Philip; and even Sir Gilbert and Miss Sampson thought that they should be better able to ascertain Mr. Philip’s intentions by taking their departure than by prolonging their visit; and as the time was nearly arrived that they should have taken their leave in the ordinary course of things, the making a movement a day or two sooner might not be a matter of such great moment. In fact, there was among the whole party an unpleasant and awkward kind of restraint, which they could only get rid of by separation; and they certainly had a right to be offended at Mr. John Martindale for his rudeness in leaving so abruptly, and not giving any explanation, or even saying when he should return. Lady Featherstone was the first of the party who started the subject of departure; and when it was mentioned, or rather hinted, to Mr. Philip, he did not receive the intelligence with any affectation of concern; and thus the matter was easily managed by the rest of the party, who soon took leave, excepting, of course, Lord and Lady Martindale. The worthy persons who took their departure rather hastily, made up their minds to forgive old Mr. Martindale for his rudeness, provided that it should turn out that he had not lost any very considerable part of his fortune.