"I'll do nothing of the sort. You shan't force me to put my name to anything. Do you think I am not up to such tricks?"
"If you don't do as I say I will bring a lawyer here as well as a doctor."
This woman possessed a sweet and gentle nature, and nothing but the evidence of an overwhelming wrong could have so stirred it to sternness. Miser Farebrother was terrified at the threat of bringing a lawyer into the house; and as he had given way to his wife earlier in the day, so now was he compelled by his fears to give way to her sister. He wrote as she directed:
"Mr. Farebrother, of Parksides, urgently requests the doctor to come immediately to his house to see Mrs. Farebrother, who, he fears, is seriously ill."
He fought against two words—"urgently," because it might cause the doctor to make a heavier charge; and "seriously," because a construction that he had been neglectful might be placed on it. But his sister-in-law was firm, and he wrote as she dictated.
"I will send the lad with it," said Miser Farebrother.
"I will send him myself," said his sister-in-law. "There must not be a moment's delay."
There was no need for her to seek Tom Barley in the stable; he was sitting up in the kitchen below.
She gave him the letter, and desired him to run as fast as he could to the village and find a doctor, who was to come back with him. If the doctor demurred, and wanted to put it off till the following day, he was to be told that it was a matter of life and death.
Tom Barley was visibly disturbed when he heard this.