"She is impracticable, you see.

If I do my duty, there will be a disturbance." Now this roused the bile of Dr.Staines.

"What, sir!" said he, "you could separate her and me by your authority, here in this very room; and yet, when her life is at stake, you abdicate! You could part her from a man who loved her with every drop of his heart,--and she said she loved him, or, at all events, preferred him to others,--and you cannot part her from a miserable corset, although you see in her poor wasted face that it is carrying her to the churchyard.

In that case, sir, there is but one thing for you to do,--withdraw your opposition and let me marry her.

As her lover I am powerless; but invest me with a husband's authority, and you will soon see the roses return to her cheek, and her elastic figure expanding, and her eye beaming with health and the happiness that comes of perfect health." Mr.Lusignan made an answer neither of his hearers expected.