"Sir John Pringle?" said the lady, in bewilderment. "Bozzy, my dear--the great Bozzy--amid the experiments of his youth, turned Catholic. His distracted relations deputed Sir John Pringle to deal with him. That great lawyer pointed out the worldly disadvantages of the step. Bozzy pleaded his immortal soul. Whereupon Sir John observed with warmth that anyone possessing a particle of gentlemanly spirit would sooner be damned to all eternity than give his relations so much trouble as Bozzy was giving his!" "The application is not clear," said Mrs. Friedland. "No," said the doctor, stretching his legs and puffing at his cigarette; "but when you speak of Laura, and tell me she is writing to Bannisdale, I find a comfort in Sir John Pringle." "It would be more to the purpose if Laura did!" exclaimed Mrs. Friedland. The doctor shook his head, and fell into a reverie. Presently he asked: "You think Mrs. Fountain is really worse?" "Laura is sure of it. And the difficulty is, what is she to do? If she goes to Bannisdale, she exiles Mr. Helbeck. Yet, if his sister is really in danger, Mr. Helbeck naturally will desire to be at home." "And they can't meet?" "Under the same roof--and the old conditions? Heaven forbid!" said Mrs. Friedland. "Risk it!" said the doctor, violently slapping his fist on the little garden table that held his box of cigarettes. "John!" "My dear--don't be a hypocrite! You and I know well enough what's wrong with that child." "Perhaps." The lady's eyes filled with tears. "But you forget that by all accounts Mr. Helbeck is an altered man. From something Laura said to Molly last week, it seems that Mrs. Fountain even is now quite afraid of him--as she used to be." "If she would only die--good lady!--her brother might go to his own place," said the doctor impatiently. "To the Jesuits?" The doctor nodded. "Did he actually tell you that was his intention?" "No. But I guessed. And that Trinity man Leadham, who went over, gave me to understand the other day what the end would probably be. But not while his sister lives." "I should hope not!" said Mrs. Friedland. After a pause, she turned to her husband. "John! you know you liked him!" "If you mean by that, my dear, that I showed a deplorable weakness in dealing with him, my conscience supports you!" said the doctor; "but I would have you remember that for a person of my quiet habits, to have a gentleman pale as death in your study, demanding his lady-love--you knowing all the time that the lady-love is upstairs--and only one elderly man between them--is an agitating situation." "Poor Laura!--poor Mr. Helbeck!" murmured Mrs. Friedland. The agony of the man, the resolution of the girl, stood out sharply from the medley of the past. "All very well, my dear--all very well. But you showed a pusillanimity on that occasion that I scorn to qualify. You were afraid of that child--positively afraid of her. I could have dealt with her in a twinkling, if you'd left her to me."