Luckily Mr. Babbacombe proved himself to be possessed of more sense than I had begun to fear. He returned to life. Whether actuated or not by the newcomer's remarks and manner I cannot say; but he did. Just as we seemed to be on the verge of a really unseemly wrangle, without altering his position in the least, he opened his eyes, looked up at us, and spoke. 'Hollo, Foster? Is that you?' It was excellently done; wonderfully clever. In the sudden rush of my relief I decided that his honorarium should be increased. It showed that he had kept his ears wide open, or he would hardly have known that his visitor's name was Foster. I only hoped that he had gained, from what had passed, some idea of who he was, and what was the position he occupied, without its being necessary for me to drop too plain a hint. However, the agile Mr. Babbacombe proved himself equal to the occasion. The man-of-affairs stood looking down at him before he answered. 'I am glad, my Lord Marquis, that you know me.' 'Know you? Why shouldn't I know you? Hang you, Foster!' Instinct had supplied Mr. Babbacombe with at least one of Twickenham's habits of speech, his trick of rounding off nearly every sentence he uttered with what one might call, by courtesy, an apostrophe. 'I am sorry, my lord, to see you looking so unwell.' 'I am going to die.' 'I trust, and believe, that it is not so bad with you as that. Where has your lordship been during all these years?' 'Playing with the fires.' 'Playing with the fires?' The lawyer repeated the words as if in doubt as to their meaning. But a glance at the speaker's face made it clear to him that the answer was perhaps not so far out as it might have been. 'Is your lordship married?' 'What the devil's that to do with you? One can't marry all of 'em.' 'But you can marry one of them. Have you done that?' There came no answer from the bed. 'I would point out to your lordship that you are in a somewhat serious condition. Should anything happen to your lordship----' 'I'm going to die.' 'We trust not: but should such a misfortune be in store for us, it is of still more importance that your affairs should be in order. I would remind you that what you have been doing during the last fifteen years is known only to yourself. Are you married?' 'Curse the women!' Why, I wondered, could not the idiot answer No? 'If your lordship pleases. But that is not an answer to my question. You must be well aware that the fact of your having a wife, with issue, would materially alter your brother's position.' 'Let him have it all.' 'You wish Lord Reginald to inherit your whole estate, real and personal? Does that mean you're not married?' 'Foster, did you--ever know--me answer questions--when I didn't want to. I'm not--dead yet.'