of the past night, and imploring help in every time of need, after which the entire company, Mr. Terry included, joined in the Lord’s Prayer.  Adjourning to the breakfast room, the events of the night were discussed over the porridge, the hot rolls and coffee and the other good things provided.  Mr. Terry had been induced to desert the kitchen for once, and he and Coristine were the heroes of the hour.  The lawyer put in a good word for the parson, and the Squire for Wilkinson, so that Miss Du Plessis and the other ladies were compelled to smile on both gentlemen.  While the dominie blushed, the Captain settled his eye on him.  “I told him when he was aboard the Susan Thomas that, with all his innercent sort of looks, he was a sly dog, with his questions about an old man’s pretty niece.  I knowed I’d see him in Flanders makin’ up to the gals, the sly dog!  Got set down right beam on to their weather ports every time, even when he wasn’t told to go on watch at all, the sly dog.  Wilkison is his name; it’ll be Will-kiss-em some day, ha! ha! ha! the sly dog!”

The schoolmaster was dreadfully uncomfortable, and his lady teacher hardly less so.  It was a blessed relief when a buggy drove up to the gate, and Mrs. Carruthers, having left her sister-in-law in charge while she went out to meet its occupants, returned shortly with the doctor and his blooming daughter, who, as a friend of the family, insisted on accompanying him to offer her services if she could be of help.

“Come, Doctor!” said the Squire, rising with the rest of the party to greet him and his companion; “the patients are in no immediate danger, so you and Miss Fanny must sit down and help us with breakfast.”

Miss Fanny was nothing loath to do so, after an invigorating drive, and in the company of such a number of eligible bachelors as was rarely seen in Flanders.  She had a word for Mr. Errol, for the detective, for the lawyer and the dominie, but to Wilkinson’s great relief she finally pitched upon Mr. Perrowne and held him captive.  Then Wilkinson improved the time with Miss Du Plessis, using as his excuse the letter or note she was to send to Rawdon declining his offer for the present, which the schoolmaster expressed his desire personally to take to the office.  Breakfast over, the doctor inspected his patients, Newcome, Rufus, and Timotheus.  The two latter he dismissed as all the better of a little blood letting, recommending lots of cold water applied externally.  The case of the incendiary was more serious, but not likely to be fatal.

CHAPTER X.

Doctor Summoned to the Select Encampment—­Newcome Interviewed—­Nash’s Discovery—­His Venture—­Drop the Handkerchief—­The Dominie’s Indignation—­The Pedestrians Detained—­The Doctor Stays—­A Trip to the Lakes—­Conversation on the Way—­The Richards—­Fishing—­Songs—­The Barrier in the Channel—­Nash’s Dead Body Found—­His Crazed Sister Comes