Jack at Sea | Page 3

sent for him, my boy."
"But not to see me?" said the lad excitedly. "Indeed I am quite well."
"No, you are not, boy. Yes, he has come to see you, and try to set you right, so speak out to him like a man."
At that moment steps were heard crossing the polished oak floor of the great hall, and directly after a keen-eyed, vigorous-looking man of about six-and-thirty entered the room in a quick, eager way.
CHAPTER TWO.
DOCTOR INSTOW'S PRESCRIPTION.
"How are you?" he cried, rather boisterously, to Sir John, shaking hands warmly. "Well! no need to ask. And how are you, my Admirable Crichton?" he said, turning to Jack to continue the hand-shaking. "Well, no need to ask here either."
"No; I'm quite well, Doctor Instow."
"What! didn't they teach you to tell the truth at Daneborough, Jack Meadows?"
"Yes, of course," said the lad sharply.
"Then why don't you tell it?" said the doctor.
"There, Jack, you see," said Sir John quickly.
"What! has he been saying that he is quite well?" cried the doctor.
"Yes; he persists in it, when--"
"Any one can see with half an eye that he is completely out of order."
"You hear, Jack?"
"Yes, father, I hear," said the boy; "but really I am quite, quite well."
"`Quite, quite well,'" said the doctor, laughing merrily, as he sank back in his chair. "Never felt better in your life, eh, Jack? Haven't been so well since I doctored you for measles, ten years ago, when I was a young man, just come to Fernleigh, eh?"
"I do not see anything to laugh at, Doctor Instow," said the lad gravely.
"No? Well, I do, my dear boy--at the way in which you tell your anxious father and his old friend that there is nothing the matter with you, when the nature in you is literally shouting to every one who sees you, `See how ill I am.'"
"Doctor Instow, what nonsense!" cried the lad.
"Indeed? Why, not ten minutes ago, as I drove towards the Hall, I met the Rector, and what do you think he said?"
"I don't know," said Jack, fidgeting in his chair.
"Then I'll tell you, my lad. `Going to see young Jack?' he said. `I don't know, but I expect so,' says your humble servant. `Well, I hope you are, for I've felt quite concerned about his looks.'"
"But I can't help looking pale and delicate," cried Jack hurriedly. "Plenty of other boys do."
"Of course they do; but in your case you can help it."
"But how?" said Jack fretfully.
"I'll tell you directly," said the doctor. "Look here, Meadows, am I to speak out straight?"
"I beg that you will," said Sir John quickly. "I have sent for you because I cannot go on like this. No disrespect to you, my dear Instow, but I was thinking seriously of taking him up to some great specialist in town."
"I'm very glad to hear you say so," cried the doctor. "If you had not, before many days were over I should have sounded the alarm myself."
"Indeed!" cried Sir John.
"Yes; I should have presumed on our old intimacy, and told you what I thought, and that it was time something was done. We'll take him up to Doctor Lorimer, or Sir Humphrey Dean, or one of the other medical big-wigs. You sent for me, then, to give you my opinion. Here it is straight. It is the right thing to do, and before you start, I'll write down my idea of the proper course of treatment, and I guarantee that either of the fashionable physicians will prescribe the same remedies."
"Then," said Sir John eagerly, "you think you can see what is the matter with him?"
"Think? I'm sure, sir."
"I am glad of it, for I had decided not to take him up to a physician."
"Thank you, father," said Jack, giving him a grateful look. "There really is no need."
"Because," continued Sir John firmly, "I thought the matter over,"--and he talked at his son--"and I said to myself that it is impossible that a London doctor can in a visit or two understand the case half so well as the medical man who has known and attended him from a child."
"Thank you, Meadows," said the doctor warmly. "I thank you for your confidence. I do not want to boast of my knowledge, but, as I said before, I am perfectly sure of what is the matter with Jack here."
"Yes? What is it?--or no, I ought not to ask you that," said the father, with a hasty glance at his son.
"Oh yes, you ought. Why not? In this case it is quite right that he should know. I am going to convince him that he is in a very bad way."
"You think so?" cried Sir John, leaning forward anxiously.
"Yes, sir, a very bad way, though the conceited young rascal is laughing in his sleeve and mentally calling me