Several idlers
had assembled about his door, and two or three
had impudently thrust themselves forward almost
into the passage, to listen to a confused altercation
which was heard from within.
The Doctor hastened forward, the foremost of the
intruders retreating in confusion on his approach,
while he caught the tones of his wife's voice, raised
to a pitch which he knew, by experience, boded
no good; for Mrs Gray, good-humoured and tractable
in general, could sometimes perform the high
part in a matrimonial duet. Having much more
confidence in his wife's good intentions than her
prudence, he lost no time in pushing into the parlour,
to take the matter into his own hands. Here
he found his helpmate at the head of the whole
militia of the sick lady's apartment, that is, wet
nurse, and sick nurse, and girl of all work, engaged
in violent dispute with two strangers. The
one was a dark-featured elderly man, with an eye of
much sharpness and severity of expression, which
now seemed partly quenched by a mixture of grief
and mortification. The other, who appeared actively
sustaining the dispute with Mrs Gray, was
a stout, bold-looking, hard-faced person, armed
with pistols, of which he made rather an unnecessary
and ostentatious display.
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