he said aloud.And then he chose out an envelope, enclosed the fervid love-letter, and the above prescription; sealed it with his own sharply-cut seal-ring, R.G., in Old-English letters, and then paused over the address.'He'll not like Master Coxe outside; no need to put him to unnecessary shame.' So the direction on the envelope was -Edward Coxe, Esq.Then Mr Gibson applied himself to the professional business which had brought him home so opportunely and unexpectedly, and afterwards he went back through the garden to the stables; and just as he had mounted his horse, he said to the stable-man, - 'Oh! by the way, here's a letter for Mr Coxe.Don't send it through the women; take it round yourself to the surgery-door, and do it at once.' The slight smile upon his face, as he rode out of the gates, died away as soon as he found himself in the solitude of the lanes.He slackened his speed, and began to think.It was very awkward, he considered, to have a motherless girl growing up into womanhood in the same house with two young men, even if she only met them at meal-times; and all the intercourse they had with each other was merely the utterance of such words as, 'May I help you to potatoes?' or, as Mr Wynne would persevere in saying, 'May I assist you to potatoes?' - a form of speech which grated daily more and more upon Mr Gibson's cars.Yet Mr Coxe, the offender in this affair which had just occurred, had to remain for three years more as a pupil in Mr Gibson's family.He should be the very last of the race.Still there were three years to be got over; and if this stupid passionate calf-love of his lasted, what was to be done? Sooner or later Molly would become aware of it.The contingencies of the affair were so excessively disagreeable to contemplate, that Mr Gibson determined to dismiss the subject from his mind by a good strong effort.He put his horse to a gallop, and found that the violent shaking over the lanes - paved as they were with round stones, which had been dislocated by the wear and tear of a hundred years - was the very best thing for the spirits, if not for the bones.He made a long round that afternoon, and came back to his home imagining that the worst was over, and that Mr Coxe would have taken the hint conveyed in the prescription.
All that would be needed was to find a safe place for the unfortunate Bethia, who had displayed such a daring aptitude for intrigue.But Mr Gibson reckoned without his host.It was the habit of the young men to come in to tea with the family in the dining-room, to swallow two cups, munch their bread or toast, and then disappear.This night Mr Gibson watched their countenances furtively from under his long eye-lashes, while he tried against his wont to keep up a degage manner, and a brisk conversation on general subjects.He saw that Mr Wynne was on the point of breaking out into laughter, and that red-haired, red-faced Mr Coxe was redder and fiercer than ever, while his whole aspect and ways betrayed indignation and anger.'He will have it, will he?' thought Mr Gibson to himself; and he girded up his loins for the battle.He did not follow Molly and Miss Eyre into the drawing-room as he usually did.He remained where he was, pretending to read the newspaper, while Bethia, her face swelled up with crying, and with an aggrieved and offended aspect, removed the tea-things.Not five minutes after the room was cleared, came the expected tap at the door.
'May I speak to you, sir?' said the invisible Mr Coxe, from outside.'To be sure.Come in, Mr Coxe.I was rather wanting to talk to you about that bill of Corbyn's.Pray sit down.' 'It is about nothing of that kind, sir, that I wanted - that I wished -No, thank you - I would rather not sit down.' He, accordingly, stood in offended dignity.'It is about that letter, sir - that letter with the insulting prescription, sir.' 'Insulting prescription! I am surprised at such a word being applied to any prescription of mine - though, to be sure, patients are sometimes offended at being told the nature of their illnesses; and, I dare say, they may take offence at the medicines which their cases require.' 'I did not ask you to prescribe for me.' 'Oh, ho! Then you were the Master Coxe who sent the note through Bethia!
Let me tell you it has cost her her place, and was a very silly letter into the bargain.' 'It was not the conduct of a gentleman, sir, to intercept it, and to open it, and to read words never addressed to you, sir.' 'No!' said Mr Gibson, with a slight twinkle in his eye and a curl on his lips, not unnoticed by the indignant Mr Coxe.'I believe I was once considered tolerably good-looking, and I dare say I was as great a coxcomb as any one at twenty; but I don't think that even then I should quite have believed that all those pretty compliments were addressed to myself.' 'It was not the conductor a gentleman, sir,' repeated Mr Coxe, stammering over his words - he was going on to say something more, when Mr Gibson broke in.'And let me tell you, young man,' replied Mr Gibson, with a sudden sternness in his voice, 'that what you have done is only excusable in consideration of your youth and extreme ignorance of what are considered the laws of domestic honour.I receive you into my house as a member of my family -you induce one of my servants - corrupting her with a bribe, I have no doubt - ' 'Indeed, sir! I never gave her a penny.' 'Then you ought to have done.You should always pay those who do your dirty work.' 'Just now, sir, you called it corrupting with a bribe,' muttered Mr Coxe.Mr Gibson took no notice of this speech, but went on, - 'Inducing one of my servants to risk her place, without offering her the slightest equivalent, by begging her to convey a letter clandestinely to my daughter - a mere child.' 'Miss Gibson, sir, is nearly seventeen! I heard you say so only the other day,' said Mr Coxe, aged twenty.Again Mr Gibson ignored the remark.'A letter which you were unwilling to have seen by her father, who had tacitly trusted to your honour, by receiving you as an inmate of his house.
