"Law!" cried Jan. "What has been the matter?"
"A general disarrangement of the system altogether, I fancy," returned Dr. West. "I believe that the best thing to restore me will be change of scene—travelling; and an opportunity to embrace it has presented itself. I am solicited by an old friend of mine, in practice in London, to take charge of a nobleman's son for some months—to go abroad with him."
"Is he ill?" asked literal Jan, to whom it never occurred to ask whether Dr. West had first of all applied to his old friend to seek after such a post for him.
"His health is delicate, both mentally and bodily," replied Dr. West. "I should like to undertake it: the chief difficulty is leaving you here alone."
"I dare say I can do it all," said Jan. "My legs get over the ground quick. I can take to your horse."
"If you find you cannot do it, you might engage an assistant," suggested Dr. West.
"So I might," said Jan.
"I should see no difficulty at all in the matter if you were my partner. It would be the same as leaving myself, and the patients could not grumble. But it is not altogether the thing to leave only an assistant, as you are, Mr. Jan."
"Make me your partner, if you like," said cool Jan. "I don't mind. What'll it cost?"
"Ah, Mr. Jan, it will cost more than you possess. At least, it ought."