No easy thing to keep up an attitude of hopefulness before the men whilst searching uselessly for facts to justify the Spanswick paragraph; but this was a mere diversion compared with the trouble that came to him the following week. Louisa was at home again after a few days of work at the factory, and Erb, going one afternoon to Page’s Walk for some correspondence, encountered the doctor who had called for a minute to see her. The doctor was a breathless, energetic man, whose fees were so small that, added up, they only made a living wage by reason of the number of his patients. “Going on all right, doctor?” “Yes, thanks,” replied the medical man, walking rapidly through the passage, and brushing his hat the while. “Busy though! Up to my eyes in work.” “I was referring more particularly to my young sister.” “Oh! she! Oh! it’s what might be expected. Hideous occupation, I call it. One of those manufactures that might well be left to foreigners. Good day!” “One moment,” said Erb, placing a hand on the doctor’s arm, and speaking with great anxiety. “Tell us exactly what you mean in plain language. Ought she to be sent away again?” “You don’t want to waste money,” said the doctor, glancing at his watch. “If it’s necessary for her health, I’d spend the last penny I’ve got.” “Would you really?” The doctor seemed genuinely surprised. “Well, then, perhaps she might get away to the country or the seaside or somewhere.” “May be the means of saving her life?” “Oh, no,” said the doctor cheerfully. “I wouldn’t go so far as that.” Erb shook him violently. “Why didn’t you tell me this before? You—” “Thought you had the sense to see,” said the doctor curtly. “Credited you with more intelligence apparently than you possess. Good day!” Louisa resting upstairs in the one armchair declared that she had never felt better. It was only that she was tired, and had no appetite; but, then, see what a good thing it was to feel tired, and just imagine what a saving was effected by the absence of a craving for unlimited food! Erb did not tell his sister what the doctor had said, but his grave appearance hinted something, and Louisa declared not only that all doctors were fools, but went further, and asserted that most of them were born fools. All the same, she consented with some reluctance to go away. Erb went down to Camberwell, to see Rosalind and talk it over. At Camberwell, Rosalind, ready dressed for public promenade, came halfway down the uneven pavement and met him, with both hands outstretched, just by Minerva. She had only that moment been speaking of him to the Professor, and the Professor had said that he, for his part, felt a keen desire to see Erb again. “But we won’t see him,” she said, in a confidential way that was very pleasing, “because he will only want to borrow, and I am used to his borrowing from most people; but it hurts when he borrows from you.” “We’ll talk in the hall,” suggested Erb.