This question being, with the usual sagacity of public inspectors,
put in the presence of Cooper and the doctor, who stuck to Tollett like
wax, the mad people all declared they were very kindly treated. The
reason they were so unanimous was this: they knew by experience that, if
they told the truth, the justices could not at once remedy their
discomforts, whereas the keepers, the very moment the justices left the
house, would knock them down, beat them, shake them, strait-jacket them,
and starve them: and the doctor, less merciful, would doctor them. So
they shook in their shoes, and vowed they were very comfortable in
Silverton Grove.
Thus, in later days, certain Commissioners of Lunacy inspecting Accomb
House, extracted nothing from Mrs. Turner, but that she was happy and
comfortable under the benignant sway of Metcalf the mild--there present.
It was only by a miracle the public learned the truth, and miracles are
rare.
Meantime, Alfred had a misgiving. The plausible doctor had now Squire
Tollett's ear, and Tollett was old, and something about him reminded the
Oxonian of a trait his friend Horace had detected in old age:
"Vel quod res omnes timide gelide que ministrat.
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