He's peaceable enough; besides, he must be looked after; and, to be frank, my uncle hectors him, poor dear." "I will think it over," said Morris.

"And now come for a walk on the beach, and we will forget all these worries." Next morning the Colonel appeared at breakfast in a perfectly angelic frame of mind, having to all appearance utterly forgotten the "contretemps" of the previous afternoon.

Perhaps this was policy, or perhaps the fact of his having won several hundred pounds the night before mollified his mood.

At least it had become genial, and he proved a most excellent companion.
"Look here, old fellow," he said to Morris, throwing him a letter across the table; "if you have nothing to do for a week or so, I wish you would save an aged parent a journey and settle up this job with Simpkins." Morris read the letter.

It had to do with the complete reerection of a set of buildings on the Abbey farm, and the putting up of a certain drainage mill.