West proceeded early on the
following morning to Verner's Pride, after his night of search, instead
of sleep, astonishing John Massingbird not a little. That gentleman was
enjoying himself in a comfortable sort of way in his bedroom. A
substantial breakfast was laid out on a table by the bedside, while he,
not risen, smoked a pipe as he lay, by way of whetting his appetite. Dr.
West entered without ceremony.
"My stars!" uttered John, when he could believe his eyes. "It's never
you, Uncle West! Did you drop from a balloon?"
Dr. West explained. That he had come over for a few hours' sojourn. The
state of his dear daughter Sibylla was giving him considerable
uneasiness, and he had put himself to the expense and inconvenience of a
journey to see her, and judge of her state himself.
That there were a few trifling inaccuracies in this statement, inasmuch
as that his daughter's state had had nothing to do with the doctor's
journey, was of little consequence. It was all one to John Massingbird.
He made a hasty toilette, and invited the doctor to take some breakfast.
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