In effect, Lady Martlett and Aunt Sophia returned to the drawing-room, the former lady entirely ignoring the presence of the doctor till she left, which she did soon afterwards, leaving the kindest of messages for Lady Scarlett, all full of condolence, and quite accepting the apologies for her non-appearance. Then there was the warmest of partings, while the doctor stood back, wondering whether he was to be noticed or passed over, the latter seeming to be likely; when, just as she reached the door, Lady Martlett turned and bowed in the most distant way. Then John Scales, M.D., stood alone in the drawing-room, listening to the voices in the hall as the door swung to. "Humph!" he said to himself. "What a woman! She's glorious! I like her pride and that cool haughty way of hers! And what a voice! "No; it won't do," he muttered, after a short pause. "I'm not a marrying man--not likely to be a marrying man; and if I were, her Ladyship would say, with all reason upon her side: `The fellow must be mad! His insolence and assumption are not to be borne.' "I wish I had not shown her the sixpence, she will think me quite contemptible." "Talking to yourself, doctor?" said Lady Scarlett, entering the room, looking very pale and anxious. "Yes, Lady Scarlett; it is one of my bad habits.--How is my patient?" "Sleeping pretty easily," she said. "I came to ask you to come and look at him, though." "What's the matter?" cried the doctor sharply; and he was half-way to the door as he spoke. "Nothing, I hope," exclaimed Lady Scarlett, trembling; "but he alarms me. I--I am afraid that I am quite unnerved." The doctor did not make any comment till he had been and examined the patient for a few minutes, Lady Scarlett hardly daring to breathe the while; then he turned to her with a satisfied nod: "Only the sedative. You are over-anxious, and must have some rest." This she refused to take, and the doctor had to give way. Volume 1, Chapter XIV. MR SAXBY COMES DOWN ON BUSINESS. The next day and next, Sir James Scarlett seemed to be better. He was pale and suffering from the shock, speaking gravely to all about him, but evidently trying to make the visitors feel at their ease. He pressed them to stay; but the doctor had to get back to town; so had Prayle, though the latter acknowledged the fact with great reluctance; and it was arranged that they were to be driven over to the station together. That morning at breakfast, however, a visitor was announced in the person of Mr Frederick Saxby. "Saxby? What does he want?" said Scarlett. "Why, he must have come down from town this morning. Here, I'll fetch him in." He rose and left the room, and the doctor noted that his manner was a good deal changed. "Unpleasant business, perhaps," he thought: and then, as his eyes met Lady Scarlett's: "She's thinking the same."