,' I
said. 'May I ask once more how Mr. Armadale is to be persuaded to come
here?'

"'Don't think me ungallant,' rejoined the doctor in his gentlest manner,
'if I ask, on my side, how are men persuaded to do nine-tenths of the
foolish acts of their lives? They are persuaded by your charming sex.
The weak side of every man is the woman's side of him. We have only
to discover the woman's side of Mr. Armadale--to tickle him on it
gently--and to lead him our way with a silken string. I observe here,'
pursued the doctor, opening Armadale's letter, 'a reference to a certain
young lady, which looks promising. Where is the note that Mr. Armadale
speaks of as addressed to Miss Milroy?'

"Instead of answering him, I started, in a sudden burst of excitement,
to my feet. The instant he mentioned Miss Milroy's name all that I had
heard from Bashwood of her illness, and of the cause of it, rushed back
into my memory. I saw the means of decoying Armadale into the Sanitarium
as plainly as I saw the doctor on the other side of the table, wondering
at the extraordinary change in me. What a luxury it was to make Miss
Milroy serve my interests at last!

"'Never mind the note,' I said. 'It's burned, for fear of accidents.
I can tell you all (and more) than the note could have told you. Miss
Milroy cuts the knot! Miss Milroy ends the difficulty! She is privately
engaged to him. She has heard the false report of his death; and she has
been seriously ill at Thorpe Ambrose ever since. When Bashwood meets him
at the station, the very first question he is certain to ask--'

"'I see!' exclaimed the doctor, anticipating me. 'Mr. Bashwood has
nothing to do but to help the truth with a touch of fiction. When he
tells his master that the false report has reached Miss Milroy, he has
only to add that the shock has affected her head, and that she is
here under medical care. Perfect! perfect! We shall have him at the
Sanitarium as fast as the fastest cab-horse in London can bring him to
us. And mind! no risk--no necessity for trusting other people. This
is not a mad-house; this is not a licensed establishment; no doctors'
certificates are necessary here! My dear lady, I congratulate you; I
congratulate myself. Permit me to hand you the railway guide, with my
best compliments to Mr. Bashwood, and with the page turned down for him,
as an additional attention, at the right place.'

"Remembering how long I had kept Bashwood waiting for me, I took
the bo