Katherine, immensely relieved, sat trying to work in the front
parlor, but really watching for the doctor. Would her uncle see
him? and if not, ought she still to undertake the responsibility of
such a charge?
At last he arrived, a staid, thoughtful-looking man; and before
he had time to do more than exchange a few words with her, Mr.
Newton appeared and carried him off to see the patient.
They seemed a long time gone; and when they returned the doctor
wrote a prescription--a very simple tonic, he said. "What your
uncle needs, Miss Liddell," he said, "is constant nourishment. He
is exceedingly weak; the action of the heart is feeble, the whole
system starved. You must get him to take all the food you can, and
some good wine--Burgundy if possible. He had better get up.
There is really no organic disease, but he is very low. He ought to
have some one in his room at night."
"It will be difficult to manage that," said Mr. Newton.
"I shall look in to-morrow about this time," said the doctor, and
hurried away.
"How have you contrived to make him hear reason?" asked
Katherine, eagerly.
"I took the law into my own hands, for one thing, and I suggested
a powerful motive for living on. I reminded him that he and
another old gentleman are the only survivors in a 'Tontine,' and
that he must try to outlive him.
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