own infirmities!"

My father was more rebuked by the manner than by the words of the
divine. He passed his hand across his brow, as if to shut out the
view of his wife's spirit; turned, drew his writing materials
nearer, wrote a check for the ten thousand pounds, and handed it to
the Doctor with the subdued air of a corrected boy.

"Jack shall be at your disposal, good sir," he said, as the paper
was delivered, "whenever it may be your pleasure to send for him."

They parted in silence; the divine too much displeased, and my
ancestor too much grieved, to indulge in words of ceremony.

When my father found himself alone, he gazed furtively about the
room, to assure himself that the rebuking spirit of his wife had not
taken a shape less questionable than air, and then, he mused for at
least an hour, very painfully, on all the principal occurrences of
the night. It is said that occupation is a certain solace for grief,
and so it proved to be in the present case; for luckily my father
had made up that very day his private account of the sum total of
his fortune. Sitting down, therefore, to the agreeable task, he went
through the simple process of subtracting from it the amount for
which he had just drawn, and, finding that he was still master of
seven hundred and eighty-two thousand three hundred and eleven
pounds odd shillings and even pence, he found a very natural
consolation for the magnitude of the sum he had just given away, by
comparing it with the magnitude of that which was left.