It sounded more like a jest than sober earnest.
"I have my master's _exeat_" he said; "if he or the doctor cancels it I shall go in at once, sir." It was Mr Bickers's turn to stare now.

He had overdone it for once in a way.

His genius for interference had carried him a step too far; and with a "Very good, Smedley," in terms which were meant to be ominous, he turned away and proceeded to where Railsford was.
It was to speak to Railsford that he had come out into the fields that morning.

His interviews with Miss Violet and the captain had been by the way.

Railsford was busy marshalling the competitors for the Shell quarter-mile, of whom there was an unusual number.