ore I would invite him, of course: you must be aware of
that. And I should not think of asking you to meet Mrs Rowland; that
would be going too far. But Mrs Grey wishes that your wife and
Margaret should visit these ruins that we were always prevented from
getting to last year: and Mr Walcot is anxious to see them too; and he
has been civil to Sydney; and, in short, I believe that Sydney half
promised that he should go with us."

"Say no more," replied Hope. "You will have no difficulty with us. I
really know nothing against Mr Walcot. He had a perfect right to
settle where he pleased. Whether the manner of doing it was handsome or
otherwise, is of far more consequence to himself than to me, or to any
one else."

"I wish we all viewed the matter as you do. If the ladies had your
temper, we should have a heaven upon earth. But they take things up so
warmly, you see, when their feelings are interested for anybody; Mrs
Rowland for one, and my wife for another. I hardly know what she will
say to the idea of our having Walcot with us. Let us go and see."

"I have a word to say to you first. Do you know of any one who wants a
horse? I am going to dispose of mine."

"Mr Walcot wants a horse," said Sydney, delighted at the idea of
solving a difficulty.

Hope smiled, and told Mr Grey that he had rather sell his horse at a
distance. Mr Walcot had already hired the boy Charles, whom Hope had
just dismissed; and if he obtained the horse too, the old servant who
knew his way to every patient's door, all the country round--it really
would look too like the unpopular man patronising his opponent.
Besides, it would be needlessly publishing in Deerbrook that the horse
was given up.

"What is the fault of your horse?" asked Mr Grey, rousing himself from
an absent fit.

"Merely that he eats, and therefore is expensive. I cannot afford now
to keep a horse," he declared, in answer to Mr Grey's stare of
amazement. "I have so few patients now out of walking reach, that I
have no right to keep a horse. I can always hire, you know, from
Reeves."

"Upon my soul, I am sorry to hear this--extremely sorry to hear it.
Matters must have gone further than I had any idea of. My dear fellow,
we must see how we can serve you. You must let me accommodate you--
indeed you must--rather than give up your horse."

"Do not speak of it. You are very kind; but we need no help, I do
assure you. My mind is quite made up about the ho