year? You don't look well. I wonder whether you notice any change in me?
'You seem to be in good spirits,' Hugh replied, not very cordially.
'Do I carry my head high?' Mr. Vimpany went on. 'When calamity strikes at a man, don't let him cringe and cry for pity—let him hit back again! Those are my principles. Look at me. Now do look at me. Here I am, a cultivated person, a member of an honourable profession, a man of art and accomplishment—stripped of every blessed thing belonging to me but the clothes I stand up in. Give me your hand, Mountjoy. It's the hand, sir, of a bankrupt.'
'You don't seem to mind it much,' Mountjoy remarked.
'Why should I mind it?' asked the doctor. 'There isn't a medical man in England who has less reason to reproach himself than I have. Have I wasted money in rash speculations? Not a farthing. Have I been fool enough to bet at horse races? My worst enemy daren't say it of me. What have I done then? I have toiled after virtue—that's what I have done. Oh, there's nothing to laugh at! When a doctor tries to be the medical friend of humanity; when he only asks leave to cure disease, to soothe pain, to preserve life—isn't that virtue? And what is my reward? I sit at home, waiting for my suffering fellow-creatures; and the only fellow-creatures who come to me are too poor to pay. I have gone my rounds, calling on the rich patients whom I bought when I bought the practice. Not one of them wanted me. Men, women, and children, were all inexcusably healthy—devil take them! Is it wonderful if a man becomes bankrupt, in such a situation as mine? By Jupiter, I go farther than that! I say, a man owes it to himself (as a protest against undeserved neglect) to become a bankrupt. If you will allow me, I'll take a chair.'
He sat down with an air of impudent independence and looked round the room. A little cabinet, containing liqueurs, stood open on the sideboard. Mr. Vimpany got up again. 'May I take a friendly liberty?' he said—and helped himself, without waiting for permission.
Hugh bore with this, mindful of the mistake that he had committed in consenting to receive the doctor. At the same time, he was sufficiently irritated to take a friendly liberty on his side. He crossed the room to the sideboard, and locked up the liqueurs. Mr. Vimpany's brazen face flushed deeply (not with shame); he opened his lips to say something worthy of himself, controlled the impulse, and burst into a boisterous laugh. He had evidently some favour still to ask.
'Devilish good!' he broke out cheerfully. 'Do you remember the landlady's claret? Ha! you don't want to tempt me this time. Well! well! to return to my bankruptcy.'
Hugh had heard enough of his visitor's bankruptcy. 'I am not one of your creditors,' he said.
Mr. Vimpany made a smart reply: 'Don't you be too sure of that. Wait a little.'
'Do you mean,' Mountjoy asked, 'that you have come here to borrow money of me?'
'Time—-give me time,' the doctor pleaded: 'this is not a matter to be dispatched in a hurry; this is a matter of business. You will hardly believe it,' he resumed, 'but I have actually been in my present position, once before.' He looked towards the cabinet of liqueurs. 'If I had the key,' he said, 'I should like to try a drop more of your good Curacoa. You don't see it?'
'I am waiting to hear what your business is,' Hugh replied.
Mr. Vimpany's pliable temper submitted with perfect amiability. 'Quite right,' he said; 'let us return to business. I am a man who possesses great fertility of resource. On the last occasion when my creditors pounced on my property, do you think I was discouraged? Nothing of the sort! My regular medical practice had broken down under me. Very well—I tried my luck as a quack. In plain English, I invented a patent medicine. The one thing wanting was money enough to advertise it. False friends buttoned up their pockets. You see?'
'Oh, yes; I see.'
'In that case,' Mr. Vimpany continued, 'you will not be surprised to hear that I draw on my resources again. You have no doubt noticed that we live in an age of amateurs. Amateurs write, paint, compose music, perform on the stage. I, too, am one of the accomplished persons who have taken possession of the field of Art. Did you observe the photographic portraits on the walls of my dining-room? They are of my doing, sir—whether you observed them or not I am one of the handy medical men, who can use the photograph. Not that I mention it generally; the public have got a narrow-minded notion that a doctor ought to be nothing but a doctor. My name won't appear in a new work that I am contemplating. Of course, you want to know what my new work is. I'll tell you, in the strictest confidence. Imagine (if you can) a series of superb photographs of the most eminent doctors in England, with memoirs of their lives written by themselves; published once a month, price half-a-crown. If there isn't money in that idea, there is no money in anything. Exert yourself, my good friend. Tell me what you think of it?'
'I don't understand the subject,' Mountjoy replied. 'May I ask why you take
'Because I look upon you as my best friend.'
'You are very good. But surely, Mr. Vimpany, you have older friends in your circle of acquaintance than I am.'
'Not one,' the doctor answered promptly, 'whom I trust as I trust you. Let me give you a proof of it.'
'Is the proof in any way connected with money?' Hugh inquired.
'I call that hard on me,' Mr. Vimpany protested. 'No unfriendly interruptions, Mountjoy! I offer a proof of kindly feeling. Do you mean to hurt me?'
'Certainly not. Go on.'
'Thank you; a little encouragement goes a long way with me. I have found a bookseller, who will publish my contemplated work, on commission. Not a soul has yet seen the estimate of expenses. I propose to show it to You.'
'Quite needless, Mr. Vimpany.'
'Why quite needless?'
'Because I decline lending you the money.'
'No, no, Mountjoy! You can't really mean that?'
'I do mean it.'
'No!'
