“What do you mean, Mrs Milt?”
“I mean that I don’t think he’ll see you, sir.”
“Oh, stuff and nonsense! Go and tell him I’m here.”
The housekeeper went away, and came back in five minutes, looking troubled.
“Master says you must excuse him, sir. That you are to please ask for what you want, but he is too unwell to see you.”
“Dear me, Mrs Milt; I’m sorry to hear this,” said the solicitor, with a look of commiseration. “But, then, he is a doctor, and must know his symptoms. Has he had any one to see him?”
“No, sir.”
“Then he is not very bad. I mean no doctor?”
“No, sir; no doctor.”
“I didn’t mean solicitor, Mrs Milt,” said Cousin Thompson, laughing unpleasantly. “Of course, if he required a solicitor he would send for me, eh?”