'Yes. Hang the jade! And yet--we could not live without her!'
'They are saying that you lost three thousand to my Lord March, the night before you left town?'
'Halve it.'
'Indeed? Still--an expensive mistress?'
'Can you direct me to a cheap one?' Sir George said rather crustily.
'No. But doesn't it occur to you a wife with money--might be cheaper?' the doctor asked with a twinkle in his eye.
Sir George shrugged his shoulders for answer, and turning from the table--the servant had withdrawn--brushed the crumbs from his breeches, and sat staring at the lire, his glass in his hand. 'I suppose--it will come to that presently,' he said, sipping his wine.
'Very soon,' the doctor answered, drily, 'unless I am in error.'
Sir George looked at him. 'Come, doctor!' he said. 'You know something! What is it?'
'I know that it is town talk that you lost seven thousand last season; and God knows how many thousands in the three seasons before it!'