Third Period Chapter 49 The Nurse is Sent Away

"You have repented and changed your mind, Vimpany?" said Lord Harry.

"I repented?" the doctor repeated, with a laugh. "You think me capable
of that, do you?"

"The man is growing stronger and better every day. You are going to
make him recover, after all. I was afraid"--he corrected himself--"I
thought"--the word was the truer--"that you were going to poison him."

"You thought I was going--we were going, my lord--to commit a stupid
and a useless crime. And, with our clever nurse present, all the time
watching with the suspicions of a cat, and noting every change in the
symptoms? No--I confess his case has puzzled me because I did not
anticipate this favourable change. Well--it is all for the best. Fanny
sees him grow stronger every day--whatever happens she can testify to
the care with which the man has been treated. So far she thought she
would have us in her power, and we have her."

"You are mighty clever, Vimpany; but sometimes you are too clever for
me, and, perhaps, too clever for yourself."

"Let me make myself clearer"--conscious of the nurse's suspicions, he
leaned forward and whispered: "Fanny must go. Now is the time. The man
is recovering. The man must go: the next patient will be your lordship
himself. Now do you understand?"