Then  they  began  to  be  overwhelmed  with  business.  First,
the  infallible  doctor  was  to  be  consulted ;  so  poor  Mrs  Hazle-
hurst was  dragged  out  of  bed  some  three  hours  sooner  than
usual,  breakfasted  in  a  nervous  tremor,  which  rendered  the
ceremony  a  most  unreal  mockery,  was  transported  from  her
carriage  to  a  stately  dining-room,  where  some  twenty  fellow-
victims  were  already  incarcerated,  whence  (having  waited  two
hours,  because,  in  her  ignorance  of  London  rascalities,  she
had  omitted  to  fee  the  noble  creature  in  plush  and  powder
who  had  admitted  her)  she  was  at  length  (his  nobleness  not
being  able  longer  to  exclude  her)  ushered  into  the  presence  of
the  potentate  of  pills  himself.  This  erudite  individual  was
a  short,  stiff  man,  with  a  short,  stiff  appearance — the  result  of
the  most  severe" application  of  starch  and  hair-brushes — and  a
short,  stiff  manner,  assumed,  as  are  the  stare  and  swagger  of
Van  Amburg  and  other  tiger-tamers,  for  the  purpose  of  brow-
beating and  mentally  subduing  refractory  or  sceptical  patients.
