"It is an enviable sensation, Miss Alleyne," he said, as a diversion to the elder lady's annoyance; "one of nature's greatest boons. As I was saying, Mrs Alleyne, _a propos_ of your son, he neglects his health in his scientific pursuits, and the beautifully complicated machine of his system grows rusty. Why, the commonest piece of mechanism will not go well if it is not properly cared for, so how can we expect it of ourselves." "Quite true, Mr Oldroyd. Did you ride over? Is your horse waiting?" "Oh, no, I walked. Lovely weather, Miss Alleyne. Good-day, madam, good-day." "But you have not taken any refreshment, Mr Oldroyd. Allow me to--" "Why, dinner must be ready, mamma," said Lucy. "Will not Mr Oldroyd stop?" "Of course, yes, I had forgotten," said Mrs Alleyne, with a slight colour in her cheek, and a peculiar hesitancy in her voice. "We--er-- dine early--if you would join us, we should be very glad." "With great pleasure, madam," said the young doctor, frankly; "it will save me a five miles' walk, for I must go across the common this afternoon to Lindham." "To see poor old Mrs Wattley?" cried Lucy eagerly, as Mrs Alleyne tried to hide by a smile, her annoyance at her invitation being accepted. "Yes; to see poor old Mrs Wattley," said Oldroyd, nodding. "Is she very ill?" said Lucy sympathetically. "Stricken with a fatal disease, my dear young lady," he replied. "Oh!" ejaculated Lucy. "One, however, that gives neither pain nor trouble. She will not suffer in the least." "I'm glad of that," cried Lucy, "for I like the poor old lady. What is her complaint?" "Senility," said Oldroyd, smiling. "Why, my dear Miss Alleyne, she is ninety-five." "Will you come with me, Lucy," said Mrs Alleyne, who had been vainly trying to catch her daughter's eye, and then--"perhaps Mr Oldroyd will excuse us." "Not if you are going to make any additions to the meal on my account, madam," said the doctor, hastily. "I am the plainest of plain men--a bachelor who lives on chops and steaks, and it needs a sharp-edged appetite to manage these country cuts." Mrs Alleyne smiled again, and the visitor was left alone. "Old lady didn't like my staying," he said to himself. "Shouldn't have asked me, then. I am hungry, but--Oh! what a pretty, natural, clever little witch it is. I wish I'd a good practice; I should try my luck if I had, and I don't think there is any one in the way." "Humph! End of the world," he said, rising and crossing to look at the picture. "What a ghastly daub!" "What a wilderness; why don't they have the garden done up?" he continued, going to one of the windows, and looking at the depressing, neglected place without. "Ugh! what a home for such a bright little blossom. It must be something awful on a wet, wintry day." "Sorry I stopped," he said, soon after.