“I should like to know when he has done anything else. I should like to see the man who ever heard from his lips other than the wildest, crudest nonsense. The question is, is he going to die?”
“Beattie's opinion is very unfavorable.”
“Unfavorable! To whom? To him or to us?”
“His death could scarcely be favorable to us.”
“That 's as it might be. We stand to win on one or two of these twenty wills he has made; and if he should recover and live on, I don't think—indeed I 'm full sure—I couldn't bear it much longer; so that, take it either way, I'd rather he'd die.”
“Beattie wishes his granddaughter were here.”
“Well, send for her. Though, if he is as ill as you say, it won't be of much use.”
“He has come through so many of these attacks, and has such great power of constitution, the doctor still thinks he might rally.”
“And so he will, I'll be sworn. There's a vitality in those people who plague and torment others that ought to get insurance offices to take them at half premium. Has he asked for me?”
“Only in his ravings. He rang his bell violently, and inquired if you had been at the prison, and asked what tidings you had brought him; and then he went off to say that all this Celt affair was no rebellion at all, and that he would prove it. Then he talked of quitting the Bench and putting on his stuff gown to defend these men against the Government.”