He had a batch of letters and reports from his
native clerk, and there was something or other that he said he must
see to at once.
"He begged me to say, Major, that he was very sorry to go off
without saying goodby, but he hoped to be in Cawnpore before long.
I own that that part of the message astonished me, knowing as I do
what difficulty there is in getting him out of his shell. He and
I became great chums when I was over at Deennugghur two years ago,
and the young fellow is not given to making friends. However, as
he is not the man to say a thing without meaning it, I suppose he
intends to come over again. He knows there is always a bed for him
in my place."
"We see very little of him," Mary Hunter said; "he is always away
on horseback all day. Sometimes he comes in the evening when we
are quite alone, but he will never stay long. He always excuses
himself on the ground that he has a report to write or something
of that sort. Amy and I call him 'Timon of Athens.'"
"There is nothing of Timon about him," the Doctor remarked
dogmatically. "That is the way with you young ladies--you think
that a man's first business in life is to be dancing attendance on
you. Bathurst looks at life seriously, and no wonder, going about
as he does among the natives and listening to their stories and
complaints. He puts his hand to the plow, and does not turn to the
right or left."
"Still, Doctor, you must allow," Mrs. Hunter said gravely, "that
Mr.
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