Anne coloured with shame for the old woman, but the words silenced her:
how was it possible to press her own opinion after that? Sir Alexander
had it all his own way, and the leeches were applied on either side the
throat, Mr. Brook emphatically asserting in Lady Hartledon's private ear
that he "washed his hands" of the measure. Before they came off the
consequences were apparent; the throat was swollen outwardly, on both
sides; within, it appeared to be closing.
The dowager, rather beside herself on the whole, had insisted on the
leeches. Any one, seeing her conduct now, might have thought the invalid
boy was really dear to her. Nothing of the sort. A hazy idea had been
looming through her mind for years that Val was not strong; she had been
mistaking mental disease for bodily illness; and a project to have full
control of her grandchild, should he come into the succession
prematurely, had coloured her dreams. This charming prospect would be
ignominiously cut short if the boy went first.
Sir Alexander saw his error. There must be something peculiar in Lord
Elster's constitution, he blandly said; it would not have happened in
another. Of course, anything that turns out a mistake always is in the
constitution--never in the treatment. Whether he lived or died now was
just the turn of a straw: the chances were that he would die. All that
could be done now was to endeavour to counteract the mischief by external
applications.
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