Julia's toilet was not made when I heard the clatter of the recalcitrant De Quincey backing the chaise out of his beloved, but little _be-lived_ in, stable. She sat up in bed, however, when I went in to kiss her, in spite of Mrs. Rocket, turned me round to the window to see whether I was looking my best, or, as she equivocally phrased it, "the best of which I was capable," told me, that I had got a little _rouge_ the last time I was out, and must ask Miss Dudley whether it was not becoming, and hooked her forefingers into my naturally _gekraeuseltes_ hair, to pull it into what she always maintained to be the proper _pose_ above my eyebrows. Then down I ran, and off I went, through the town and along the road, between rocks and evergreens with here and there a gate among them that marked the entrance to the earthly paradise of some lucky gentleman. "Sha'n't we be too early?" asked I, fidgeting, for my prosperity appeared to me, just now, too perfect to be permanent. "No," said the Doctor. "They are early people at Barberry Beach,--not Sybarites in anything, so far as I can judge. It is near nine. Miss Dudley tells me I shall almost always find her visible by that time. If, not hearing from you, she has made other engagements, you know she is more likely to be at leisure now than later." "She does not look well yet. What was the matter with her?" "_Angina pectoris_. That is Greek to you, Katy. Pain in the heart, then." "What made her have it?" "That is a deep question in the most interesting of sciences,--that of the metamorphoses of diseases. Many men would answer it according to their many minds. To the best of my belief, the cause of Miss Dudley's having a pain in her heart lay in her great-grandfather's toe." "O Doctor! what _do_ you mean?" "The gout." "Well, that sounds very aristocratic and imposing; but, notwithstanding, I know you are laughing at me." "No, I am not. It is no laughing matter." "Why, is it dangerous?" "Dangerous!" said he. "It is deadly. Why, Katy, I never shall dare to tell you anything again, if you are going to look so frightened! _She_ did not when I told her." "Does she know?" "Yes, and makes no secret of it, and is not unlikely to mention it before you; so that you must accustom yourself to the idea, and be prepared to face it as she does." "How came she to know?" "She asked me. I gave up very early in my practice, for several reasons, the habit of lying to my patients. If they are cowards, or if, for any reason, I think the truth and the whole truth would shorten their days, I often tell them little or nothing; but I tell them nothing but the truth. She is not a person to be put off from knowing what she has a right to know." "How did she take it?"