Dale (he had carefully ascertained that he was out before riding up
to the house); but if the servant would show him the way, he would be
glad, to get out on the lower road; he understood the rectory grounds
opened upon it, at a little distance from the house. Certainly the man
could show him--nothing easier, if the gentleman would take the path to
the left, and the turn by the shrubbery, he would pass by the stables,
and the lower road lay straight before him. Victor Carrington complied
with these directions, but his after-conduct did not bear out the
impression of his being in a hurry, which his words and manner had
conveyed to the footman. It was at least an hour after he had held the
above-mentioned colloquy, when Victor Carrington, having made himself
thoroughly acquainted with the topography of the rector's premises,
issued from a side-gate, and took the lower road, leading back to
Frimley.
Then he went straight to the stable-yard, saw Mr. Spavin's groom, and
dismissed him.
"I shall take the 'Buffalo' down to my friend's place this afternoon,"
he said to Hawkins. "Here's your money, and you can get back to London
as soon as you like. I think my friend will be very well pleased with
his bargain."
"Ay, ay," said Mr. Hawkins, whose repeated potations of execrable
brandy had rendered him tolerably indifferent to all that passed around
him, and who was actuated by no other feeling than a lively desire to
obtain, the future favours of a liberal employer; "he's got to take
care of hisself, and we've got to take care of ourselves, and that's
all about it.
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