last seen him. He strutted; he stared confidently at
persons and things; authority was in his voice when he spoke, and lofty
indulgence distinguished his manner when he listened.

"How are you?" he cried with a grand gaiety, as he entered the room.
"Fine weather, isn't it, for the time of year? You don't look well. I
wonder whether you notice any change in me?

"You seem to be in good spirits," Hugh replied, not very cordially.

"Do I carry my head high?" Mr. Vimpany went on. "When calamity strikes
at a man, don't let him cringe and cry for pity--let him hit back
again! Those are my principles. Look at me. Now do look at me. Here I
am, a cultivated person, a member of an honourable profession, a man of
art and accomplishment--stripped of every blessed thing belonging to me
but the clothes I stand up in. Give me your hand, Mountjoy. It's the
hand, sir, of a bankrupt."

"You don't seem to mind it much," Mountjoy remarked.

"Why should I mind it?" asked the doctor. "There isn't a medical man in
England who has less reason to reproach himself than I have. Have I
wasted money in rash speculations? Not a farthing. Have I been fool
enough to bet at horse races? My worst enemy daren't say it of me. What
have I done then? I have toiled after virtue--that's what I have done.
Oh, there's nothing to laugh at! When a doctor tries to be the medical
friend of humanity; when he only asks leave to cure disease, to soothe
pain, to preserve life--isn't that virtue? And what is my reward? I sit
at home, waiting for my suffering fellow-creatures; and the only
fellow-creatures who come to me are too poor to pay. I have gone my
rounds, calling on the rich patients whom I bought when I bought the
practice. Not one of them wanted me. Men, women, and children, were all
inexcusably healthy--devil take them! Is it wonderful if a man becomes
bankrupt, in such a situation as mine? By Jupiter, I go farther than
that! I say, a man owes it to himself (as a protest against undeserved
neglect) to become a bankrupt. If you will allow me, I'll take a
chair."

He sat down with an air of impudent independence and looked round the
room. A little cabinet, containing liqueurs, stood open on the
sideboard. Mr. Vimpany got up again. "May I take a friendly liberty?"
he said--and helped himself, without waiting for permission.

Hugh bore with this, mindful of the mistake that he had committed in
consenting to receive the doctor. At the same time, he was suf