I found him fretful and anxious—ready to flame out into one of his sudden passions, on the smallest provocation. Not the slightest reflection of Lucilla's recovered cheerfulness appeared in Lucilla's lover.
"Has she said anything to you about the new doctor?" were the first words he addressed to me.
"She has told me that she feels the greatest faith in him," I answered. "She firmly believes that he speaks the truth in saying he can cure you."
"Did she show any curiosity to know how he is curing me?"
"Not the slightest curiosity that I could see. It is enough for her that you are to be cured. The rest she leaves to the doctor."
My last answer appeared to relieve him. He sighed, and leaned back in his chair. "That's right!" he said to himself. "I'm glad to hear that."
"Is the doctor's treatment of you a secret?" I asked.
"It must be a secret from Lucilla," he said, speaking very earnestly. "If she attempts to find it out, she must be kept—for the present, at least—from all knowledge of it. Nobody has any influence over her but you. I look to you to help me."
"Is this the favor you had to ask me?"
"Yes."