"Then there is nothing to take you back," cried Scarlett quickly, "and you must stay.--Kate, do you hear? I say he must stay!" There was an intense irritation in his manner as he said these words, and his wife looked up in a frightened way. "Yes, yes, dear. Of course Doctor Scales will stay." "Then why don't you ask him?" he continued in the same irritable manner. "A man won't stop if the mistress of the house slights him." "But, my dear James," cried Lady Scarlett, with the tears in her eyes, "I have not slighted Doctor Scales. On the contrary, I was begging that he would stay when you came in." "Why?--why?" exclaimed Scarlett, with increasing excitement. "You must have had some reason. Do you hear? Why did you ask him to stay?" "Because I knew you wished it," said Lady Scarlett meekly; "and I thought it would do you good to have him with you for a time, dear." "Do me good! Such sickly nonsense! Just as if I were ill. You put me out of patience, Kate; you do indeed. How can you be so childish!--Come into the garden, Jack. I'll be back directly I've got my cigar-case." "Shall I fetch it, dear?" asked Lady Scarlett eagerly. "No; of course not. Any one would think I was an invalid;" and he left the room. "Lady Scarlett," said the doctor, as soon as they were alone, "I will stay." "God bless you!" she cried, with a burst of sobbing; and she hurried away. Volume 1, Chapter XVI. BROTHER WILLIAM AT HOME. Brother William went very regularly to the Scarletts, and took Fanny's magazines, handing them to her always with an air of disgust, which resulted in their being snatched angrily away. Then he would sit down, and in due time partake of tea, dwelling over it, as it were, in a very bovine manner--the resemblance being the stronger whenever there was watercress or lettuce upon the table. In fact, there was something remarkably ruminative in Brother William's slow, deliberate, contemplative way; while, to carry on the simile, there was a something almost in keeping in the manners of Martha Betts--a something that while you looked at the well-nurtured, smooth, pleasant, quiet woman, set the observer thinking of Lady Scarlett's gentle Jersey cows, that came up, dewy lipped and sweet breathed, to blink and have their necks patted and ears pulled by those they knew. Injustice to Martha Betts, it must be said that she never allowed her neck to be patted nor her ears pulled by Brother William; and what was more, that stout yeoman farmer would never for a moment have thought of presuming to behave so to the lady of his choice; for that she was the lady of his choice he one day showed. It was a pleasant afternoon, and Brother William had been greatly enjoying a delicious full-hearted lettuce that John Monnick had brought in expressly for the servants' tea. Perhaps it was the lettuce which inspired the proposal that was made during the temporary absence of Fanny from the tea-table. "Pretty girl, Fanny; ain't she, Martha?"