Mrs.Cunningham thought it best to speak first on the minor grief.
"So Mr.Bastow has gone, Mark ?" "Yes, Dr.Holloway thought very badly of him yesterday, and said that he had but very faint hope of his rallying.

I cannot help thinking that it was best so.

Of course, he was not a very old man, but he has for some years been a very feeble one, and now that Millicent and I have both given up our studies with him, I think that he would have felt that his work was done, and would have gone downhill very fast." "I think so, too," Mrs.Cunningham agreed.

"I am sure that even had the Squire's death come quietly, in the course of nature, it would have been a terrible blow to him.

He was fond of you and Millicent, but his affection for your father was a passion; his face always lit up when he spoke to him.