short, drew forth a globule--"Aconite,--good against nervous shocks!" and
swallowed it incontinently.

"Gad," said the squire, rather astonished, "'t is the first doctor I ever
saw swallow his own medicine! There must be sornething in it."

The captain now, highly disgusted that so much attention was withdrawn
from his own case, asked in a querulous voice, "And as to diet? What
shall I have for dinner?"

"A friend!" said the doctor, wiping his eyes.

"Zounds!" cried the squire, retreating, "do you mean to say, that the
British laws (to be sure they are very much changed of late) allow you to
diet your patients upon their fellow-men? Why, Parson, this is worse
than the donkey sausages."

"Sir," said Dr. Morgan, gravely, "I mean to say, that it matters little
what we eat in comparison with care as to whom we eat with. It is better
to exceed a little with a friend than to observe the strictest regimen,
and eat alone. Talk and laughter help the digestion, and are
indispensable in affections of the liver. I have no doubt, sir, that it
was my patient's agreeable society that tended to restore to health his
dyspeptic relative, Mr. Sharpe Currie."

The captain groaned aloud.

"And, therefore, if one of you gentlemen will stay and dine with Mr.
Higginbotham, it will greatly assist the effects of his medicine."