He was the only one that was curious about Mr. Tebrick: he made him take out his watch, put his ear to it, considered it and wrinkled up his brows in perplexity. On the next visit it was the same thing. He must see the watch again, and again think over it. But clever as he was, little Selwyn could never understand it, and if his mother remembered anything about watches it was a subject which she never attempted to explain to her children.
One day Mr. Tebrick left the earth as usual and ran down the slope to the road, when he was surprised to find a carriage waiting before his house and a coachman walking about near his gate. Mr. Tebrick went in and found that his visitor was waiting for him. It was his wife's uncle.
They shook hands, though the Rev. Canon Fox did not recognise him immediately, and Mr. Tebrick led him into the house.
The clergyman looked about him a good deal, at the dirty and disorderly rooms, and when Mr. Tebrick took him into the drawing room it was evident that it had been unused for several months, the dust lay so thickly on all the furniture.
After some conversation on indifferent topics Canon Fox said to him: "I have called really to ask about my niece."
Mr. Tebrick was silent for some time and then said: "She is quite happy now."
"Ah--indeed. I have heard she is not living with you any longer."
"No. She is not living with me. She is not far away. I see her every day now."
"Indeed. Where does she live?"
"In the woods with her children. I ought to tell you that she has changed her shape. She is a fox."
The Rev. Canon Fox got up; he was alarmed, and everything Mr. Tebrick said confirmed what he had been led to expect he would find at Rylands. When he was outside, however, he asked Mr. Tebrick: "You don't have many visitors now, eh?"
"No--I never see anyone if I can avoid it. You are the first person I have spoken to for months."
"Quite right, too, my dear fellow. I quite understand--in the circumstances." Then the cleric shook him by the hand, got into his carriage and drove away.
"At any rate," he said to himself, "there will be no scandal." He was relieved also because Mr. Tebrick had said nothing about going abroad to disseminate the Gospel. Canon Fox had been alarmed by the letter, had not answered it, and thought that it was always better to let things be, and never to refer to anything unpleasant. He did not at all want to recommend Mr. Tebrick to the Bible Society if he were mad. His eccentricities would never be noticed at Stokoe. Besides that, Mr. Tebrick had said he was happy.