Dr. Hansombody
stood considering, pulling thoughtfully at his lower lip.
"I think I can undertake," he suggested, "that the Town Council will
contribute a moiety of that sum. Something can be done by private
subscription."
Mr. Basket brightened visibly. "Put it at fifty pounds, then," he
commanded, with a wave of the hand. "Should Providence see fit to
restore him to us, our friend, as a reasonable man, will doubtless
discharge some part of the expenses."
Accordingly the bill was drafted, and the Chief Constable, after
running his blue pencil through some of its more monumental periods,
engaged to have it printed and distributed.
"Do you know," confessed Mr. Basket, as he and the Doctor walked
homewards, "I felt all the while as if we were composing our friend's
epitaph. I have a presentimen--"
"Do not utter it, my dear sir!" the Doctor entreated.
"He was a man--"
"Yes, yes; 'taking one thing with another, it is more than likely we
shall never see him again.' The words, sir, struck upon my spirit
like the tolling of a bell. But for Heaven's sake let us not
despair!"
"Life is precarious, Dr. Hansombody; as your profession, if any,
should teach. We are here to-day; we are gone--in the more sudden
cases--to-morrow. What do you say, sir, to a glass of wine at the
'Benbow'? To my thinking, we should both be the better for it."
CHAPTER XVIII.
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