He could do no more, if it failed. Under
the influence of this cheering reflection, he recovered his temper; his
handsome face brightened again with its genial boyish smile.
"What a wonderful woman you are!" he cried. "Isn't it just the thing
that I am here for, to tell you what I mean--and my clever wife sees
through and through me, and reminds me of what I must do! Pay my fee
beforehand, Iris! Give me a kiss--and my poor meaning shall be offered
in return. It will help me if you remember one thing. Vimpany and I are
old friends, and there's nothing we won't do to accommodate each other.
Mind that!"
Tried fairly on its own merits, the stupid fiction invented by the
doctor produced an effect for which Lord Harry was not prepared. The
longer Iris listened, the more strangely Iris looked at him. Not a word
fell from her lips when he had done. He noticed that she had turned
pale: it seemed to be almost possible that he had frightened her!
If his bird-witted brains could have coupled cause and effect, this was
exactly the result which he might have anticipated.
She was asked to believe that a new system of medical practice had been
invented by such a person as Mr. Vimpany.
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