I should answer their pathetic appeal
or not. I had all my money about me (having never let it out of my own
possession during my stay in the red-brick house), and there was plenty
of it for the present; so I thought it best to leave the alarm and
distress of my anxious relatives unrelieved for a little while longer,
and to return quietly to the perusal of the _ Morning Post._

Five minutes of desultory reading brought me unexpectedly to an
explanation of the advertisement, in the shape of the following
paragraph:

"ALARMING ILLNESS OF LADY MALKINSHAW.--We regret to announce that this
venerable lady was seized with an alarming illness on Saturday last,
at her mansion in town. The attack took the character of a fit--of what
precise nature we have not been able to learn. Her ladyship's medical
attendant and near relative, Doctor Softly, was immediately called
in, and predicted the most fatal results. Fresh medical attendance was
secured, and her ladyship's nearest surviving relatives, Mrs. Softly,
and Mr. and Mrs. Batterbury, of Duskydale Park, were summoned. At
the time of their arrival her ladyship's condition was comatose, her
breathing being highly stertorous. If we are rightly informed, Doctor
Softly and the other medical gentlemen present gave it as their opinion
that if the pulse of the venerable sufferer did not rally in the course
of a quarter of an hour at most, very lamentable results might be
anticipated. For fourteen minutes, as our reporter was informed, no
change took place; but, strange to relate, immediately afterward her
ladyship's pulse rallied suddenly in the most extraordinary manner. She
was observed to open her eyes very wide, and was heard, to the surprise
and delight of all surrounding the couch, to ask why her ladyship's
usual lunch of chicken-broth with a glass of Amontillado sherry was not
placed on the table as usual. These refreshments having been produced,
under the sanction of the medical gentlemen, the aged patient partook
of them with an appearance of the utmost relish. Since this happy
alteration for the better, her ladyship's health has, we rejoice to
say, rapidly improved; and the answer now given to all friendly
and fashionable inquirers is, in the venerable lady's own humorous
phraseology, 'Much better than could be expected.'"

Well done, my excellent grandmother! my firm, my unwearied, my undying
friend! Never can I say that my case is desperate while you can swallow
your