"Well," said the little doctor, laying the whip across his knee and blowing his nose so loudly that the pony shied at the noise--"well, well, dear, Mr. Creswell's absence at that particular time was, to say the least of it, unfortunate; we may say that. Now, what about the girls; are they kind?" "Very, in their way." "Good!" said the little doctor, bringing his hand down with a ringing slap on the chaise-apron, "I like that! Dry--deuced dry. Like your poor father, that. 'In their way.' Ha, ha I understand. Their way is not much yours?" "They are very good-tempered and polite, and press one to eat and drink a great deal, and hand chairs and footstools, and always sing when they are asked. And," added Marian, after a moment's pause, and under a fear that she had been unduly cynical, "and they are most attentive and affectionate to mamma." "I am delighted to hear that, for that's just as it should be, just as one would have wished it to turn out. Oh yes, quite ladies, with all the feelings and perceptions of ladies, and talking to your mother nicely, and so on. Not too bright--not to be compared with you or my girl. Ah, there would have been a companion for you, my dear; all soul, and such an arm for the harp, but married to the coastguard in Dorsetshire!--but still nice girls. Well, I'm glad you give me this account, my dear, for it suits exactly the suggestion I was about to make. But before I made it I wanted to be quite sure of your position at Woolgreaves, and to know for certain that you were liked by all the family." "You are not certain of that yet, doctor. There is one of the family about whom you have made no inquiry." "One of the family--at Woolgreaves? Oh, by Jove, Tom--Master Tom! I recollect now--a most important personage in his own esteem, and really some one to be thought of in such a matter as this. And how does Master Tom behave to you?" "Like a--like a scoundrel!" cried Marian, her eyes flashing, and all the colour ablaze in her cheeks: "He has been, ever since we have been there, either rude and rough, or sulky and unpleasant; but to-day, just before I saw you, not an hour ago, he met me in the fields, and insulted me in the grossest manner; talked about our poverty, and hinted that--hinted----" and the remainder of the sentence was lost in a burst of tears.