This honourable usurer had sold an annuity upon the life of a
young spendthrift, being thereto induced by the affirmation of his
physician, who had assured him his patient's constitution was so
rotten, that he could not live one year to an end. He had, nevertheless,
made shift to weather eighteen months, and now seemed more vigorous
and healthy than he had ever been known: for he was supposed to
have nourished an hereditary pox from his cradle. Alarmed at this
alteration, the seller came to consult Cadwallader, not only about
the life of the annuitant, but also concerning the state of his
health at the time of his purchasing the annuity, purposing to sue
the physician for false intelligence, should the conjurer declare
that the young man was sound when the doctor pronounced him diseased.
But this was a piece of satisfaction he did not obtain from the
misanthrope, who, in order to punish his sordid disposition, gave
him to understand, that the physician had told him the truth, and
nothing but the truth; and that the young gentleman was in a fair
way of attaining a comfortable old age.
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