Scarlett hesitated and hung back; but the doctor did not speak. He could see that his patient was trying to avoid his eye. Once Scarlett glanced up, but the look was rapid as lightning. He saw that the doctor was watching him, and he avoided his look again instantly, like a schoolboy who had committed some fault. At the end of a minute, though, he gradually raised his eyes again, slowly and furtively, and in a way that troubled the doctor more than he would have cared to own; but he had his consolation directly in finding his patient gazing fully at him while Scarlett uttered a low sigh of satisfaction, as if he rejoiced at being in charge of a stronger will than his own; and then, without a word, they moved towards the lawn. "I must do my bit of fighting too," said the doctor to himself, as his eyes fell upon Lady Martlett. "She's very handsome; she knows it; and she wants to make me feel it; but she shall not.--Humph! How that fellow Prayle hangs about Lady Scarlett's side. They can't always be wanting to talk over business matters." "Well, James, have you had a pleasant stroll?" said Aunt Sophia, as the two men joined the group. "Yes--very," he answered quietly. "Have you seen how the peaches are getting on upon the little bush?" she continued. "I? No. I have not been in the peach-house for days." "You don't go half often enough. Let's go now." "What, I? N--" The poor fellow met the doctor's eye, and said hastily: "Well, yes; I will, aunt.--Will you come too, Naomi?" "O yes," cried the girl eagerly. "Perhaps Lady Martlett will come and see the rosy-cheeked beauties of the peach-house?" said the doctor half-mockingly.--"She'll give me such a snub," he added to himself. "Yes; I should like to see them," said her Ladyship quietly; "my gardener tells me that they are far more beautiful than mine." "I should have thought it impossible," cried the doctor. "Your Ladyship's wealth and position ought to be able to secure for you everything." "But it does not," said Lady Martlett; "not even such a simple thing as deference or respect." "Ah, but money could not buy those--at least not genuine, sterling qualities of that kind, Lady Martlett," said the doctor, as they moved towards the end of the garden. "So it seems, Doctor Scales." "There are some people who even have the impertinence to look down upon the rich who do not carry their honours with graceful humility." "How dares he speak to me like this!" thought Lady Martlett; "but I'll humble him yet." "Let me see," she replied coolly; "what do you cull that class of person--a radical, is it not?" "Yes; I suppose that is the term." "And I understand that there are radicals of all kinds: in politics; in those who pass judgment on social behaviour; and even in medicine." "That's a clever thrust," thought the doctor.--"Just so, Lady Martlett; and I am one of the radicals in medicine." "Of course, then, not in social matters, Doctor Scales?"