"Permit me, doctor?" said the holy man, before breaking the seal of the letter he held in his hand.
"At your convenience, my dear abbé," replied the doctor, rising from his seat; "I must leave you now."
"I pray you, just a word!" cried the abbé, who seemed especially anxious that the doctor should not depart so soon. "Give me time to glance over this letter, and I am at your service."
"But, abbé, we have nothing more to say to each other. I have an urgent consultation, and the hour is—"
"I implore you, doctor," insisted the abbé, breaking the seal and running his eyes over the letter he had just received, "in the name of Heaven, give me only five minutes, not more."
Surprised at this singular persistence on the part of the abbé, the doctor hesitated to go out, when the invalid, discontinuing his reading of the letter, raised his eyes to heaven and exclaimed:
"Ah, my God, my God!"
"What is the matter?"
"Ah, my poor doctor!"
"Finish what you have to say."