"Sore!" said Eaton. "You've made it agonising." "Well, well, a few days' holiday will do you good. But no; I'm not going to be dragged up here to see you." "I don't want to see you, doctor. I'm sure I shall get well without your help. Pray don't have me fetched down." "I say, Phil," said the doctor; "look me in the face." "Yes." "Is it serious? You know--with her." "Very, doctor." "But it's awkward. The young lady's father!" "Miss Hallam is not answerable for her father's sins," said Eaton warmly. "But the young lady--does she accept?" Eaton shook his head. "Not yet," he said; "and now that the opportunity serves to clinch the matter you want to get me away. Doctor, for once--be human." Doctor Woodhouse sat with his chubby face pursed up for a few minutes, gazing down in the young man's imploring countenance without speaking. "Well, well," he said, "I was a boy myself once, and horribly in love. I'll give you a week, Phil." "And I'll give you a life's gratitude," cried the young man joyfully. "Why, by all that's wonderful," cried the doctor, with mock surprise, "I've cured him on the spot! Here, let me take off your bandages, so that you may get up and dance. Eh? Poor lad, he is a good deal hurt though," he continued, as he saw the colour fade from the young man's face, and the cold dew begin to form. "A few days will do him good, I believe. He is, honestly, a little too bad to move." He bathed his face, and moistened his lips with a few drops of liquid from a flask, and in a few minutes Eaton looked wonderingly round. "Easier, boy? That's it. Yes, you may stay, and you had better be quiet. Feel so sick now?" "Not quite, doctor. Oh! I am so glad I really am ill." The doctor smiled, and summoned Mrs Hallam, who came in with Julia. "I must ask you to play hostess to my young friend here. He shan't die on your hands." Julia turned pale, and glanced from one to the other quickly. "Mr Eaton shall have every attention we can give him," said Mrs Hallam, smiling; and the doctor looked with surprise at the way her pale, careworn face lit up with tenderness and sympathy as she laid her hand upon the young man's brow. "I'm sure he will," said the doctor, "and I'll do my best," he added, with a quick look at his patient, "to get him off your hands, for he will be a deal of trouble." "It will be a pleasure," said Mrs Hallam, speaking in all sincerity. "English women are always ready to nurse the wounded," she added with a smile. "I wish I could always have such hands to attend my injured men, madam," said the doctor with formal politeness. "There, I must go at once. Good-bye, Eaton, my boy. You'll soon be on your legs. Don't spoil him, ladies; he is not bad. I leave him to you, Mrs Hallam."