“The shock, then, did not harm him?” asked Lendrick, eagerly.
“Far from it; he said he felt revived and renovated. Yes, Beattie, he told me I had done him more good than all your phials. His phrase was, 'Your bitters, sir, leave no bad flavor behind them.' I am proud to think I made a favorable impression upon him; for he permitted me not only to state my own views, but to correct some of his. He agrees now to everything. He even went so far as to say that he will employ his first half-hour of strength in writing to Lady Trafford; and he charges you, Beattie, to invite Lionel Trafford to come and pass some days here.”
“Viva!” cried Haire; “this is grand news.”
“He asks, also, if Tom could not come over for the wedding, which he trusts may not be long deferred,—as he said with a laugh, 'At my time of life, Sir Brook, it is best to leave as little as possible to Nisi Prius.'”
“You must tell me all these again, Sir Brook, or I shall inevitably forget them,” whispered Haire in his ear.
“And shall I tell you, Lendrick, what I liked best in all I saw of him?” said Sir Brook, as he slipped his arm within the other's, and drew him towards a window. “It was the way he said to me, as I rose to leave the room, 'One word more, Sir Brook. We are all very happy, and, in consequence, very selfish. Let us not forget that there is one sad heart here,—that there is one upstairs there who can take no part in all this joy. What shall we, what can we, do for her?' I knew whom he meant at once,—poor Mrs. Sewell; and I was glad to tell him that I had already thought of her. 'She will join her husband,' said I, 'and I will take care that they have wherewithal to live on.'
“'I must share in whatever you do for her, Sir Brook,' said your father; 'she has many attractive qualities; she has some lovable ones. Who is to say what such a nature might not have been, if spared the contamination of such a husband?'
“I'm afraid I shocked, if I did not actually hurt him, by the way I grasped his hands in my gratitude for this speech. I know I said, 'God bless you for those words!' and I hurried out of the room.”
“Ah, you know him, sir!—you read him aright! And how few there are who do it!” cried Haire, warmly.
The old Judge was too weak to appear in the drawing-room; but when the company entered the dining-room, they found him seated at the table, and, though pale and wasted, with a bright eye and a clear, fresh look.