``And now,'' said the Doctor,
``where, or who, is this lady?''
The question was scarce necessary; for a plain
carriage, with four horses, came at a foot's-pace
towards the door of the Doctor's house, and the old
women, now more at their case, gave the Doctor
to understand that the gentleman thought the accommodation
of the Swan Inn totally unfit for his
lady's rank and condition, and had, by their advice,
(each claiming the merit of the suggestion,) brought
her here, to experience the hospitality of the _west-room_;---
a spare apartment, in which Dr Gray
occasionally accommodated such patients, as he
desired to keep for a space of time under his own
eye.
There were two persons only in the vehicle.
The one a gentleman in a riding dress, sprung out,
and having received from the Doctor an assurance
that the lady would receive tolerable accommodation
in his house, he lent assistance to his companion
to leave the carriage, and with great apparent satisfaction,
saw her safely deposited in a decent sleeping
apartment, and under the respectable charge of
the Doctor and his lady, who assured him once
more of every species of attention. To bind their
promise more firmly, the stranger slipped a purse
of twenty guineas (for this story chanced in the
golden age) into the hand of the Doctor, as an
earnest of the most liberal recompense, and requested
he would spare no expense in providing
all that was necessary or desirable for a person in
the lady's condition, and for the helpless being to,
whom she might immediately be expected to give
birth.
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