foreigners, and chiefly remarkable for containing England; as England
justified its existence by holding Devonshire, and more especially
Barracombe.

Sir Timothy had never been sent to school, and owed such education as
he possessed almost entirely to his half-sisters. These ladies
were considerably his seniors, and had in turn been brought up at
Barracombe by their grandmother; whose maxims they still quoted, and
whose ideas they had scarcely outgrown. Under the circumstances, the
narrowness of his outlook was perhaps hardly to be wondered at.

But the dull immovability and sense of importance which characterized
him now seemed to the doctor to be almost tragically charged with the
typical matter-of-fact courage of the Englishman; who displays neither
fear nor emotion; and who would regard with horror the suspicion that
such repression might be heroic.

"When is it to be?" said Blundell.

"To-morrow."

"To-morrow!"

"And here," said Sir Timothy; "Dr. Herslett objected, but I insisted.
I won't be ill in a strange house. I shall recover far more
rapidly--if I am to recover--among my people, in my native air. London
stifles me. I dislike crowds and noise. I hate novelty. If I am to
die, I will die at home."

"Herslett himself performs the operation, of course?"