We were all born Londoners, and looked at the blue fog, and the
broad, misty river, and the brooding smoke, with the affection of
natives, to the amazement of Lawrence, who had never been in town
without being browbeaten and miserable. That he hardly was now, as
he sat beside Emily all the way up, though they did not say much to
one another.
He told us it was quite a new sensation to walk into the office
without timidity, and to have no fears of a biting, crushing speech
about his parents or himself; but to have the clerks getting up
deferentially as soon as he was known for Mr. Frith. He had hardly
ever been allowed by his old uncle to come across Mr. Castleford,
who was of course cordial and delighted to receive him, and, without
loss of time, set forth to see Clarence.
The consultation with the physician had taken place, and it was not
concealed from us that Clarence's health was completely shattered,
and his state still very precarious, needing the utmost care to give
him any chance of recovering the effects of the last two years, when
he had persevered, in spite of warning, in his eagerness to complete
his undertaking, and then to secure what he had effected. The
upshot of the advice given him was to spend the summer by the
seaside, and if he had by that time gathered strength, and
surmounted the symptoms of disease, to go abroad, as he was not
likely to be able as yet to bear English cold.
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