“Ah!—afterwards!” echoed the younger doctor, speaking for the first time.
Sir Slasher tried to look grave, but failed in the attempt.
“Afterwards,” he said pleasantly,—“the worthy millionaire may not be in a condition to sign anything! I think”—and he paused, stroking his smooth double chin—“I think, Nurse, he should be told that the operation is a grave, very grave one, in case—these things sometimes happen!—in case he has not made a will—or—let us say in case he might wish to make some last testamentary gift—to—er—to me?—or—or to you?—or to anyone else who may have rendered him a service?”
“I’ll see that he does all that he ought to do!” said Nurse Drat-Em-All, with some severity—“I like my patients to be prepared for the worst!”
“Quite right—quite right!” murmured Sir Slasher—“But prepare him gently—quite gently, Nurse! By degrees—and cautiously! I have known cases where patients, getting too much alarmed, have made their escape from a home like this by jumping out of the window! And strange to say they have—some of them—escaped uninjured!—and stranger still, they have recovered and lived many years! Most curious and remarkable! But nerves are unaccountable things!” Here he paused and looked again at McNason. “He sleeps very soundly! I should say he was older than he admits! Ah well, well! We shall see! But I very much fear there’s no chance for his recovery!”
“Then why not spare the knife and let him live as long as Nature will allow him?” asked the younger doctor suddenly.
Sir Slasher looked amazed and reproachful.
“My dear sir! I was called in by Mr. McNason, and I must do my best for such a very wealthy man! Besides, I think his is a very complex case, and likely to prove most helpful and instructive. To-morrow at twelve o’clock, Nurse! Good-evening!”
And Sir Slasher Cut-Em-Up walked softly out of the room, followed by his colleague. Nurse Drat-Em-All, with a casual glance at the bed where Josiah McNason lay, settled her cap more coquettishly on her head and tripped after them.
“They’re gone!” said the Goblin then, sliding down from the pillow and sitting astride on Josiah’s recumbent body—“But Nurse Drat-Em-All will soon be back!”