'Doctor,' Soane answered, returning to his point, 'you know something.'
'Well--'
'You know why my lord sent for me.'
'And what if I do?' Dr. Addington answered, looking thoughtfully through his wine. 'To tell the truth, I do, Sir George, I do, and I wish I did not; for the news I have is not of the best. There is a claimant to that money come forward. I do not know his name or anything about him; but his lordship thinks seriously of the matter. I am not sure,' the doctor continued, with his professional air, and as if his patient in the other room were alone in his mind, 'that the vexation attending it has not precipitated this attack. I'm not--at all--sure of it. And Lady Chatham certainly thinks so.'
Sir George was some time silent. Then, with a fair show of indifference, 'And who is the claimant?' he asked.
'That I don't know,' Dr. Addington answered. 'He purports, I suppose, to be your uncle's heir. But I do know that his attorney has forwarded copies of documents to his lordship, and that Lord Chatham thinks the matter of serious import.'
'The worse for me,' said Sir George, forcing a yawn. 'As you say, doctor, your news is not of the best.'
'Nor, I hope, of the worst,' the physician answered with feeling. 'The estate is entailed?'
Sir George shook his head. 'No,' he said. 'It is mortgaged. But that is not the same thing.'
The doctor's face showed genuine distress. 'Ah, my friend, you should not have done that,' he said reproachfully. 'A property that has been in the family--why, since--'