"Yes, madam, out of nature's own pharmacopaeia. Let him go and climb the hills every day, and inhale it when the sun is on the fir woods. Let him get a horse and ride amongst the firs, or let him take a spade and dig the ground about this house, and turn it into a pleasant garden, surrounded by fir trees. That is all he wants." "Oh, doctor, is that all?" said Mrs Alleyne more warmly; and she laid her thin, white hand upon her visitor's arm. "Well, not quite," he said, with a smile. "He is a great student; no one admires his work more than I, or the wonderful capacity of his mind, but he must be taken out of it a little--a man cannot always be studying the stars." "No, no; he does too much," said Mrs Alleyne. "You are quite right. But what would you recommend?" "Nature again, madam. Something to give him an interest in this world, as well as in the other worlds he makes his study. In short, Mrs Alleyne, it would be the saving of your son if he fell in love." "Doctor!" "And took to himself some sweet good girl as a wife." "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" The doctor started, and looked for the source of the gush of mirth. A sweet ringing silvery laugh, that sounded like bell music in the gloomy room, for Lucy Alleyne had entered unheard, to catch the doctor's last words, and burst into this girlish fit of merriment. "Lucy!" exclaimed Mrs Alleyne with an angry glance, as she rose from her chair. "Oh, I am so sorry, mamma. I beg your pardon, Mr Oldroyd, but it did seem so droll." She laughed again so merrily that it seemed infectious, and the young doctor would have joined in had not Mrs Alleyne been there; besides, as this was a professional call, he felt the necessity for some show of dignity. "May I ask, Lucy, what is the meaning of this extremely unseemly mirth," said Mrs Alleyne, with a good deal of annoyance in her tone. "Don't be angry with me, mamma dear, but it did seem so comical; the idea of Moray falling in love and being married." "I fail to see the ridiculous side of the matter," said Mrs Alleyne, "especially at a time when Mr Oldroyd has been consulted by me upon the question of your brother's health." "Oh, but you don't think he is really ill, Mr Oldroyd, do you?" cried Lucy, anxiously. "Indeed, I do not, Miss Alleyne. He requires nothing but plenty of open-air exercise, with more food and regular sleep." "And a wife," said Lucy, with a mirthful look. "And a wife," said Oldroyd, gravely; and he gazed so intently at Lucy that her merry look passed away, and she coloured slightly, and glanced hastily at her mother. "We must make Moray go out more, mamma dear," she said hurriedly. "I'll coax him to have walks with me, and I'll teach him botany; Major Day would be delighted if he'd come with him--I mean go with him; and--oh, I say, mamma, isn't dinner nearly ready? I am so hungry." "Lucy!" cried Mrs Alleyne, with a reproachful look, as Oldroyd rose.