He could not help telling himself now and again that, circumstanced as he was, he was most specially bound to take joy in any sign of reformation which the baronet might show.

Not to do so would be almost tantamount to wishing that he might die in order that Mary might inherit his wealth; and, therefore, the doctor did with all his energy devote himself to the difficult task of hoping and striving that Sir Louis might yet live to enjoy what was his own.

But the task was altogether a difficult one, for as Sir Louis became stronger in health, so also did he become more exorbitant in his demands on the doctor's patience, and more repugnant to the doctor's tastes.
In his worst fits of disreputable living he was ashamed to apply to his guardian for money; and in his worst fits of illness he was, through fear, somewhat patient under his doctor's hands; but just at present he had nothing of which to be ashamed, and was not at all patient.
"Doctor,"-- said he, one day, at Boxall Hill--"how about those Greshamsbury title-deeds ?" "Oh, that will all be properly settled between my lawyer and your own." "Oh--ah--yes; no doubt the lawyers will settle it: settle it with a fine bill of costs, of course.

But, as Finnie says,"-- Finnie was Sir Louis's legal adviser--"I have got a tremendously large interest at stake in this matter; eighty thousand pounds is no joke.

It ain't everybody that can shell out eighty thousand pounds when they're wanted; and I should like to know how the thing's going on.