"This disease has been gaining ground for months past; I'm sure of it. I have had my opinions for some time; but Maddy never complains, you know, and I didn't like to ask her about her symptoms, lest she might be frightened. But within the last few days she has been so bad that It has been evident to us all, to myself and--and Lady Muriel that the disease was on the increase. She caught cold at the theatre the other night, and her cough is now frightful. I have seen her just now, poor darling! She was on the sofa, but very weak--all they could do to get her there--and when the paroxysms of coughing come on it's awful to see her--she hardly seems to have the strength to live through them. My poor darling Maddy!" "What do the doctors say, sir? Who is attending her?" "Whittaker--Dr. Whittaker--a very good man in his way, I daresay but--I don't know--somehow I don't think much of him. Now that is the very point I wanted to talk to you about. Somehow--how, I never understood--somebody--I don't know who--offended Dr. Wilmot, a man to whom we were under the greatest obligation for kindness rendered; and though he has been back in England for some time, he has never called in Brook-street, nor on Madeleine even, since his return. There is no one in whom I have such faith; there is no one, I am convinced, who understands Madeleine's constitution like Wilmot; and I want to know what is the best method for us to put our pride in our pockets and implore him to come and see her." "You were not thinking of asking Dr. Wilmot to visit Madeleine?" "I was indeed. What objection could there possibly be?" "I suppose you know that he has retired from practice, that he even declines to attend consultations, since he inherited Mr. Foljambe's money?" "I know that; but I am perfectly certain, from what I saw of him at Kilsyth, that if I were to go to him and tell him the state of affairs, he would overlook anything that may have annoyed him, and come and see Maddy at once." "That would be a condescension!" said Ronald. "Perhaps it might be on the other side that the 'overlooking' might be required. However, there are other reasons, sir, why I, for one, should think it highly inadvisable that Dr. Wilmot should be requested to visit my sister." "What are they, then, in Heaven's name, man?" said Kilsyth petulantly. "You don't seem to see that the matter is of the utmost urgency."