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The doctor, a grave, incurious person, arrived within a few minutes to find Morrison already conscious but absolutely exhausted He felt his patient's pulse, prescribed a draught, and followed Laverick down into the sitting room
"An ordinary case of nervous exhaustion," he pronounced "The patient appears to have had a very severe shock lately He will be all right with proper diet and treatain to-morrow"
He accepted the fee which Laverick slipped into his hand, and took his departure Once irl, who had followed the to be alarmed at, you see," he rehtensupon hisat all," Laverick answered, with an inward sense of thankfulness "To tell you the truth, though, I aet into soht He was just about to tellwhen he fainted"
Upstairs they could hear hiirl listened with pitiful face
"What am I to do?" she asked "I cannot leave him like this, and if I am not at the theatre in twenty minutes, I shall be fined"
"The theatre?" Laverick repeated
She nodded
"I airl at the Universal, worse luck Still, they don't allow us to stay away, and I can't afford to loseyourself here, then?" Laverick asked bluntly
"Of course," she answered "I do not like to be a burden on any one, and after all, you see, Arthur and I are really not related at all He has always told me, too, that times have been so bad lately"
Laverick was on the point of telling her that bad though they had been Arthur Morrison had never drawn less than fifteen hundred a year, but he checked himself It was not his business to interfere
"I think," he said, "that your brother ought to have provided for you He could have done so with very little effort"
"But what am I to do now?" she asked hiht for a ested, "would that make any difference? I could stay until you caerly "It would be so kind of you"
"Not at all," he answered "Perhaps you would be good enough to bring a taxicab back, and I could take it on to my rooms Take one from here, if you can find it There are always some at the corner"