Yet at the moment of need you falter,
Quail at rumours of coming strife.
Nay, it were wiser to cling and cherish,
Altho' things evil be said and done;
If in the future you both should perish,
Husband and wife should be lost as one."
Aunt Jelly was looking very pale and ill on the day she elected to see Guy in order to expostulate with him on the wild way in which he was behaving. She was suffering from a very serious disease connected with the heart, and Dr. Pargowker warned her against any undue excitement, as it might prove fatal. He was seated with her now, a fat, oily man of the Chadband species, and talked about her ill-health in his usual unctuous manner.
In her accustomed chair sat Miss Corbin, looking worn with illness, but as grim and defiant as ever, while the doctor standing near her felt her pulse with one hand, and held his watch with the other. Minnie, ever watchful of her patroness's comfort, hovered round like an unquiet spirit, bringing all sorts of unnecessary things, which made Aunt Jelly very irritable and led her to say unpleasant things to Miss Pelch which reduced the poetess to tears.
"Well?" said Miss Corbin sharply, when Dr. Pargowker had finished with her pulse, "what do you say? Is this illness serious?"
The doctor lifted one fat white hand in gentle protest, and resumed his seat with a comfortable sigh.