"Certainly," was the reply of the others, who were grateful to be relieved from duty. "Shall we appoint seven o'clock?"
"Yes," answered Mirazzi; "and we will hold our consultation in the duke's sitting-room. Our presence, here might be prejudicial."
And, with injunctions for silence, the doctor accompanied his colleagues to the door, which was noiselessly opened by the lackeys; but, before they had time to close it again, Mirazzi shut it with his own hands, loosening simultaneously a thick velvet portiere, through whose heavy folds no sound could penetrate without.
Victor Amadeus, meanwhile, lay motionless in his arm-chair.
"Your highness." said Mirazzi, "we are now safe and alone."
The duke arose, kicked off his coverlet, and stood erect. "My dear doctor," said he, "you must prove to me that I may trust you."
"For thirty years I have served your royal highness's family, and I am ready to do so, be it with my life," replied Mirazzi.
"I believe you, Mirazzi; and therefore I, who am insincere toward everybody else, am honest in my intercourse with you. Now listen to me. In the science of medicine there are many remedies for diseases. Are there any potions, known to physicians, that have power to PRODUCE maladies?"
"That is a dangerous inquiry, your highness; for it regards the most tragic secrets of the craft. There are many, many things known to us that will produce sickness, followed by death, immediate or remote; but unfortunately there are not as many as you suppose, that will restore the vital energies where they are impaired by disease."
"But, doctor, surely you have some way of simulating disease without injuring the patient. Cutaneous maladies, for instance, must be very easily induced."