Doddleson and Mr. Sheldon came out of the
rose-hung porch.
"If you have no objection," he said to Mr. Sheldon, "I should like to ask
Dr. Doddleson a few questions."
"_I_ have no objection," replied the stockbroker; "but it is really
altogether such an unusual thing, and I doubt if Dr. Doddleson will
consent to--"
And here he cast a deprecating glance at the doctor, as who should say,
"Can you permit yourself to comply with a demand go entirely unwarranted
by precedent?"
Dowager Doddleson was eminently good-natured.
"And this is our sweet young friend's _fiance_," he said; "dear
me--dee-ar me!"
And then he looked at Valentine with bland pale-blue eyes that twinkled
behind his gold-framed spectacles; while Valentine was taking his
measure, so far as the measure of any man's moral and intellectual force
can be taken by the eyes of another man. "And this is the man who is
chosen to snatch my darling from the jaws of death!" he said to himself,
with burning rage in his heart, while the amiable physician repeated
blandly:
"And this is our sweet young patient's _fiance_. Dee-ar me, how very
interesting!"
The three men strolled round to the garden behind the house, Mr. Sheldon
close at the physician's elbow.
"For God's sake tell me the truth, Dr. Doddleson!" said Valentine in a
low hoarse voice, directly they were beyond ear-shot of the house.
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