"Answered like a lawyer, Mr. Dale," replied Dr. Westbrook, with a smile. "I want to know whether this old and trusted servant of yours has any beneficial interest in your death?"
"Interest in my death—"
"In plainer words, has he reason to think that you have put him down in your will—supposing that you have made a will; which is far from probable?"
"Well, yes," replied Douglas, thoughtfully; "I have made a will within the last few months, and Jarvis, my old servant knows that he is provided for, in the event of surviving me—not a very likely event, according to the ordinary hazards; but a man is bound to prepare for every contingency."
"You told your servant that you had provided for him?"
"I did. He has been such an excellent creature, that it was only natural I should leave him comfortably situated in the event of my death."
"No; to be sure," answered the physician, with rather an absent manner.
"And now I need trouble you with no further questions this morning.
Come to me in a few days, and in the meantime take the medicine I
prescribe for you."
Dr. Westbrook wrote a prescription, and Mr. Dale departed, very much perplexed by his interview with the celebrated physician.
Douglas went to Fulham that evening as usual, and the first question
Paulina asked related to his interview with the doctor.
"You have seen a medical man?" she asked.