Speaking as seriously as ever, Fanny proceeded to describe her
experience at the keyhole. What she had seen was not worth relating.
What she had heard proved to be more important.
The talk between my lord and the doctor had been about raising money.
They had different notions of how to do that. My lord's plan was to
borrow what was wanted, on his life-insurance. The doctor told him he
couldn't do that, till his insurance had been going on for three or
four years at least. "I have something better and bolder to propose,"
says Mr. Vimpany. It must have been also something wicked--for he
whispered it in the master's ear. My lord didn't take to it kindly.
"How do you think I could face my wife," he says, "if she discovered
me?" The doctor says: "Don't be afraid of your wife; Lady Harry will
get used to many things which she little thought of before she married
you." Says my lord to that: "I have done my best, Vimpany, to improve
my wife's opinion of you. If you say much more, I shall come round to
her way of thinking. Drop it!"--"All right," says the doctor, "I'll
drop it now, and wait to pick it up again till you come to your last
bank note." There the talk ended for that day---and Fanny would be glad
to know what Mr.
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