told me very many times, when you
have feared my troubling him on certain matters. Now it has come to me
from another source that he is very ill. My eyes have been opened, and I
see the fact myself. I wish to learn the simple and exact truth. I wish
to see the doctor he has consulted."

"How do you know he has consulted any?"

"Has he?"

Uncle Jasper was silent for a moment. He felt in a difficulty. Did
Charlotte know the worst, she might postpone her marriage, the last
thing to be desired just now; and yet where had she got her information?
It was awkward enough, though he felt a certain sense of relief in thus
accounting for the change in her appearance since yesterday morning. He
got up and approached her side softly.

"My dear, I do own that your father is ill. I own, too, that I have, by
his most express wish, made as light of the matter to you as I could.
The fact is, Charlotte, he is anxious, very anxious, about himself. He
thinks himself much worse than I believe him to be; but his strongest
desire is, that now, on the eve of your marriage, you should not be
alarmed on his account. I firmly believe you have no cause for any
special fear. Ought you not to respect his wishes, and rest satisfied
without seeking to know more than he and I tell you? I will swear,
Charlotte, if that is any consolation to you, that I am not immediately
anxious about your father."

"You need not swear, Uncle Jasper. Your not being anxious does not
prevent my being so. I am determined to find out the exact truth. If he
thinks himself very ill he has, of course, consulted some medical man.
If you will not tell me his name I will myself ask my father to do so
to-night."

"By so doing you will shock him, and the doctor does not wish him to be
shocked."

"Just so, Uncle Jasper, and you can spare him that by telling me what
you know."

"My dear niece, if you _will_ have it?"

"I certainly am quite resolved, uncle."

"Well, well, you approach this subject at your peril. If you _must_ see
the doctor you must. Wilful woman over again. Would you like me to go
with you?"

"No, thank you; I prefer to go alone. What is the doctor's name?"

"Sir George Anderson, of B---- Street."

"I will go to him at once," said Charlotte.

She left the room instantly, though she heard her uncle calling her
back. Yes, she would go to Sir George at once. She pulled out her watch,
ran upstairs, put on some out-door dress, and in ten minutes from the