"Seen nobody but a lot of sick folk, I suppose. That's the way with you doctors. Horribly dull life. But I say, Duncan, there's some mistake. I didn't send for you. It's a blunder. I'm all right—never felt better—don't need any physic—haven't an ache or a pain." The other smiled. He had a pleasant smile, like Nigel's—hardly so brilliant, but also not so evanescent. The play of it lingered longer round his lips. "No; I came for a word with you about somebody's health. Not your own." "Nigel, to wit?" "I have not seen Nigel. You say he is all right." "Looked so, when I saw him in the dark—by lamplight, I mean. Well, what's wrong? Some old woman wanting a red cloak to cure 'rheumatiz'?" "Not at this moment." "An old man then?" "Browning is not exactly old." "Browning! Hey! Why, what's wrong there?" "I can say nothing in my medical capacity. Put that out of sight, if you please." "Can't, man, unless you put yourself out of sight." "I am speaking simply as their relative—as Clemence's cousin." "Ay? Well, what about him—speaking as an ordinary individual, not as a doctor?" "He ought to consult a London physician." "Why not consult you?" "We have put that possibility aside. He has not asked my advice, and I cannot thrust it upon him." "Rubbish!" muttered Mr. Carden-Cox. Dr. Duncan continuing, unchecked— "But advice he ought to have. If he would rather not come to me, let him go to London by all means." "Why should he not go to you?" "Can't say! The fact is patent." "And you don't think him in good health? Why, I should have said—Why, he came in here last week, looking positively robust. Fads and fancies enough, I dare say, but as for being ill—" "Looks are deceptive sometimes." "Except to the initiated, I suppose. You don't mean that anything is seriously wrong?" "I can't speak with authority. I have not examined the case. All I say is—as anybody might say—that he ought not to go on without advice." "And if he does?" Dr. Duncan was silent. "But I say, now—look here! What do you expect me to do? Why don't you speak to Mrs. Browning?" "Because, if she could not persuade him, I should have alarmed her to no purpose. You have influence with them." "Perhaps—yes." "Your opinion will not frighten her as mine would—even while they may act upon it." "I told Browning last week that he seemed in splendid condition. Am I to eat my own words so soon?"—ruefully. "What did he say?" "Oh, sighed, and declared he 'suffered' a good deal, couldn't sleep, and so forth! All a case of masculine nerves, I thought. What! Going already?" "I must! I'll leave the matter with you." "But I say—stop!—what about this notion of going abroad? I believe the girls don't know it yet. Browning broached it to me. Why, he has always hated travelling." "He should consult a physician before deciding." "What do you suppose to be the matter with him?" Dr. Duncan buttoned his glove. "Eh what's wrong with the man?"