"Save for a favour I have to ask you, doctor," I cried.
"'Od's bodkins! Already, sir? And what may that be?"
"That you will allow me to see Miss Manners."
He shook with laughter, and then winked at me very roguishly.
"Oh!" says he, "and faith, I should be worse than cruel. First she comes imploring me to see you, and so prettily that a man of oak could not refuse her. And now it is you begging to see her. Had your eyes been opened, sir, you might have had many a glimpse of Miss Dolly these three weeks past."
"What! She has been watching with me?" I asked, in a rapture not to be expressed.
"'Od's, but those are secrets. And the medical profession is close-mouthed, Mr. Carvel. So you want to see her? No," cries he, "'tis not needful to swear it on the Evangels. And I let her come in, will you give me your honour as a gentleman not to speak more than two words to her?"
"I promise anything, and you will not deny me looking at her," said I.
He shook again, all over. "You rascal! You sad dog, sir! No, sir, faith, you must shut your eyes. Eh, madam, must he not shut his eyes?"
"They were playmates, doctor," answers Mrs. Manners. She was laughing a little, too.