Peters Mother | Page 5

opinion exactly. But he took a far more serious view of
my case than you do."
"Did he?" said Blundell, turning away his head.
"The operation you suggested as a possible necessity must be
immediate. He spoke of it quite frankly as the only possible chance of
saving my life, which is further endangered by every hour of delay."
"Fortunately," said Blundell, cheerfully, "you have a fine constitution,
and you have lived a healthy abstemious life. That is all in your
favour."
"I am over sixty years of age," said Sir Timothy, coldly, "and the ordeal
before me is a very severe one, as you must be well aware. I must take
the risk of course, but the less said about the matter the better."
Dr. Blundell had always regarded Sir Timothy Crewys as a
commonplace contradictory gentleman, beset by prejudices which
belonged properly to an earlier generation, and of singularly narrow
sympathies and interests. He believed him to be an upright man
according to his lights, which were not perhaps very brilliant lights
after all; but he knew him to be one whom few people found it possible
to like, partly on account of his arrogance, which was excessive; and
partly on account of his want of consideration for the feelings of others,
which arose from lack of perception.
People are disliked more often for a bad manner than for a bad heart.
The one is their private possession--the other they obtrude on their
acquaintance.
Sir Timothy's heart was not bad, and he cared less for being liked than
for being respected. He was the offspring of a _mésalliance_; and
greatly over-estimating the importance in which his family was held, he
imagined he would be looked down upon for this mischance, unless he
kept people at a distance and in awe of him. The idea was a foolish one,

no doubt, but then Sir Timothy was not a wise man; on the contrary, his
lifelong determination to keep himself loftily apart from his fellow-men
had resulted in an almost extraordinary ignorance of the world he lived
in--a world which Sir Timothy regarded as a wild and misty place,
peopled largely and unnecessarily with savages and foreigners, and
chiefly remarkable for containing England; as England justified its
existence by holding Devonshire, and more especially Barracombe.
Sir Timothy had never been sent to school, and owed such education as
he possessed almost entirely to his half-sisters. These ladies were
considerably his seniors, and had in turn been brought up at
Barracombe by their grandmother; whose maxims they still quoted, and
whose ideas they had scarcely outgrown. Under the circumstances, the
narrowness of his outlook was perhaps hardly to be wondered at.
But the dull immovability and sense of importance which characterized
him now seemed to the doctor to be almost tragically charged with the
typical matter-of-fact courage of the Englishman; who displays neither
fear nor emotion; and who would regard with horror the suspicion that
such repression might be heroic.
"When is it to be?" said Blundell.
"To-morrow."
"To-morrow!"
"And here," said Sir Timothy; "Dr. Herslett objected, but I insisted. I
won't be ill in a strange house. I shall recover far more rapidly--if I am
to recover--among my people, in my native air. London stifles me. I
dislike crowds and noise. I hate novelty. If I am to die, I will die at
home."
"Herslett himself performs the operation, of course?"
"Yes. He is to arrive at Brawnton to-night, and sleep there. I shall send
the carriage over for him and his assistants early to-morrow morning.
You, of course, will meet him here, and the operation is to take place at

eleven o'clock."
In his alarm lest the doctor might be moved to express sympathy, Sir
Timothy spoke with unusual severity.
Dr. Blundell understood, and was silent.
"I sent for you, of course, to let you know all this," said Sir Timothy,
"but I wished, also, to introduce you to my cousin, John Crewys, who
came down with me."
"The Q.C.?"
"Exactly. I have made him my executor and trustee, and guardian of my
son."
"Jointly with Lady Mary, I presume?" said the doctor, unguardedly.
"Certainly not," said Sir Timothy, stiffly. "Lady Mary has never been
troubled with business matters. That is why I urged John to come down
with me. In case--anything--happens to-morrow, his support will be
invaluable to her. I have a high opinion of him. He has succeeded in
life through his own energy, and he is the only member of my family
who has never applied to me for assistance. I inquired the reason on the
journey down, for I know that at one time he was in very poor
circumstances; and he replied that he would rather have starved than
have asked me for sixpence. I call