Sir Emerton did call, and after a long visit, as he saw his patient had no complaint to make, none to describe, he settled that it was want of tone.
“There is a want of heart action, my dear madam,” he said, though there were times when poor Julia’s heart beat at a fearful rate.
“But you don’t think—”
“Oh, dear me, no! Oh, de-ar no! A course of tonic medicine, a little alteration in diet, and a short stay at the seaside will quite restore us.”
“Do you think Brighton?” said Mrs Mallow.
“Excellent,” said Sir Emerton; “and it would benefit you as well.”
“Or Bognor?”
“Nothing could be better.”
“Perhaps Hastings?”
“My dear madam, if I had the choosing of a place for your daughter’s residence for the present, I should decidedly say Hastings,” replied the great physician, rising from the side table, where he had been writing out a prescription precisely the same as that which he had written for hundreds of other young ladies in his time; and then, after a very courtly smile and bow, he left the drawing-room. The Rector was summoned, and the next day the family was staying at the “Queen’s” Hotel.