The English Library 77. 78. THE RAILWAY MAN AND HIS CHILDREN 2 Vols. THE MARRIAGE OF ELINOR BY MRS. OLIPHANT AUTHOR OF “_KIRSTEEN_,” “_WITHIN THE PRECINCTS_,” “_AT HIS GATES_,” “_THE RAILWAY MAN AND HIS CHILDREN_,” _ETC._ _IN TWO VOLUMES_ VOLUME II. LEIPZIG HEINEMANN AND BALESTIER _LIMITED, LONDON_ 1892 THE MARRIAGE OF ELINOR. CHAPTER XXIV. It was not till nearly three weeks after this that John received another brief dispatch. “At home: come and see us.” He had indeed got a short letter or two in the interval, saying almost nothing--a brief report of Elinor’s health, and of the baby, against whom he had taken an unreasoning disgust and repugnance. “Little beast!” he said to himself, passing over that part of the bulletin: for the letters were scarcely more than bulletins, without a word about the circumstances which surrounded her. A shooting lodge in Ross-shire in the middle of the winter! What a place for a delicate woman! John was well enough aware that many elements of comfort were possible even in such a place; but he shut his eyes, as was natural, to anything that went against his own point of view.