Chapter 9

MEDICAL OPINION.

From that day forth, by some unspoken compact, it was "Eustace" and
"Cleer," wherever they met, between them. Le Neve began it, by coming
round in the afternoon of that self-same day, as soon as he'd slept
off the first effects of his fatigue and chill, to inquire of Mrs.
Trevennack "how Cleer was getting on" after her night's exposure. And
Mrs. Trevennack accepted the frank usurpation in very good part, as
indeed was no wonder, for Cleer had wanted to know half an hour before
whether "Eustace" had yet been round to ask after her. The form of
speech told all. There was no formal engagement, and none of the party
knew exactly how or when they began to take it for granted; but from
that evening on Michael's Crag it was a tacitly accepted fact between
Le Neve and the Trevennacks that Eustace was to marry Cleer as soon as
he could get a permanent appointment anywhere.

Engineering, however, is an overstocked profession. In that particular
it closely resembles most other callings.

The holidays passed away, and Walter Tyrrel recovered, and the
Trevennacks returned to town for the head of the house to take up his
new position in the Admiralty service; but Eustace Le Neve heard of no
opening anywhere for an energetic young man with South American
experience. Those three years he had passed out of England, indeed,
had made him lose touch with other members of his craft. People
shrugged their shoulders when they heard of him, and opined, with a
chilly smile, he was the sort of young man who ought to go to the
colonies. That's the easiest way of shelving all similar questions.
The colonies are popularly regarded in England as the predestined
dumping-ground for all the fools and failures of the mother-country.
So Eustace settled down in lodgings in London, not far from the
Trevennacks, and spent more of his time, it must be confessed, in
going round to see Cleer than in perfecting himself in the knowledge
of his chosen art. Not that he failed to try every chance that lay
open to him--he had far too much energy to sit idle in his chair and
let the stream of promotion flow by unattempted; but chances were few
and applicants were many, and month after month passed away to his
chagrin without the clever young engineer finding an appointment
anywhere. Meanwhile, his little nest-egg of South-American savings was
rapidly disappearing; and though Tyrrel, who had influence with
railway men, exerted himself to the utmost on his friend's behalf--
partly for Cleer's sake, and partly for Eustace's own--Le Neve saw his
balance growing daily smaller, and began to be seriously alarmed at
last, not merely for his future prospects of employment and marriage,
but