He made no allusion to the comfortless meal of which they had both
partaken, though it was full in his mind. Nor was it absent from Lord
Hollingford's as he made reply,--
"True, true. Yet a man like you ought to be free from any thought of
household cares. You ought to have somebody. How old is Miss Gibson?"
"Seventeen. It's a very awkward age for a motherless girl."
"Yes; very. I have only boys, but it must be very awkward with
a girl. Excuse me, Gibson, but we're talking like friends. Have
you never thought of marrying again? It wouldn't be like a first
marriage, of course; but if you found a sensible, agreeable woman of
thirty or so, I really think you couldn't do better than take her to
manage your home, and so save you either discomfort or worry; and,
besides, she would be able to give your daughter that kind of tender
supervision which, I fancy, all girls of that age require. It's a
delicate subject, but you'll excuse my having spoken frankly."
Mr. Gibson had thought of this advice several times since it was
given; but it was a case of "first catch your hare." Where was the
"sensible and agreeable woman of thirty or so?" Not Miss Browning,
nor Miss Phoebe, nor Miss Goodenough. Among his country patients
there were two classes pretty distinctly marked: farmers, whose
children were unrefined and uneducated; squires, whose daughters
would, indeed, think the world was coming to a pretty pass, if they
were to marry a country surgeon.
But the first day on which Mr. Gibson paid his visit to Lady Cumnor,
he began to think it possible that Mrs. Kirkpatrick was his "hare."
He rode away with slack rein, thinking over what he knew of her,
more than about the prescriptions he should write, or the way he was
going. He remembered her as a very pretty Miss Clare: the governess
who had the scarlet fever; that was in his wife's days, a long time
ago; he could hardly understand Mrs. Kirkpatrick's youthfulness
of appearance when he thought how long. Then he had heard of her
marriage to a curate; and the next day (or so it seemed, he could not
recollect the exact duration of the interval), of his death. He knew,
in some way, that she had been living ever since as a governess in
different families; but that she had always been a great favourite
with the family at the Towers, for whom, quite independent of their
rank, he had a true respect. A year or two ago he had heard that she
had taken the good-will of a school at Ashcombe; a small town close
to another property of Lord Cumnor's, in the same county. Ashcombe
was a larger estate than that near Hollingford, but the old
Manor-house there was not nearly so good a residence as the Towers;
so it was given up to Mr. Preston, the land-agent for the Ashcombe
property, just as Mr. Sheepshanks was for that at Hollingford.
There were a few rooms at the Manor-house reserved for the
occasional visits of the family, otherwise Mr. Preston, a handsome
young bachelor, had it all to himself. Mr. Gibson knew that Mrs.
Kirkpatrick had one child, a daughter, who must be much about the
same age as Molly. Of course she had very little, if any, property.
But he himself had lived carefully, and had a few thousands well
invested; besides which, his professional income was good, and
increasing rather than diminishing every year. By the time he had
arrived at this point in his consideration of the case, he was at the
house of the next patient on his round, and he put away all thought
of matrimony and Mrs. Kirkpatrick for the time. Once again, in the
course of the day, he remembered with a certain pleasure that Molly
had told him some little details connected with her unlucky detention
at the Towers five or six years ago, which had made him feel at the
time as if Mrs. Kirkpatrick had behaved very kindly to his little
girl. So there the matter rested for the present, as far as he was
concerned.