'No, I sha'n't,' he said.

'Now you just listen here.' And he described how, the day before, he had been to see Mr.Ancrum, to consult him about leaving Kinder, and what had come of it.
He had been just in time.

Mr.Ancrum, worn, ill, and harassed to death, had been cheered a little during his last days at Clough End by the appearance of David, very red and monosyllabic, on his doorstep.

The lad's return, as he soon perceived, was due simply to the stress of his own affairs, and not to any knowledge of or sympathy with the minister's miseries.

But, none the less, there was a certain balm in it for Mr.Ancrum, and they had sat long discussing matters.