d,--a thing he had never been troubled with in all his born days, and ostentatious

derstanding the staunch friendlin

enquired of the burly patient, w

--! --! Can't any man make a little mistake like that? Trouble is, most of those other fools have got a pack of yelping women-folk about 'em, and they're all on the quee-vee and as keen on the scent as any old--," and he launch

've just got to stand

n your mi

what comes. I can't expect thi

go badly? --

thinking I

he

a big country they say and just beginning to o

-- -- it all, man! The place won't be l

his fault,

oad after the run we'd had, wasn't it? I told him he wa

ake to myself. If folks go to the other man I can't

- long holiday,"

can do

have a smash-up just

'll turn the othe

ere he'll go out faster t

e patient, and a sham one at that, does not make a practice, a

of his patients unless he were sent for. It would be neither fair

days' rest and the relief of her mind would not set right. All the same he rather feared she might send for him, and he debated in his own mind whether, if she did so, he should go or se

lear understanding of the matter. On the whole, he decided it would be better if possible not to see her again. What he had done for her had b

mment if he had not. And Jim Barclay and most of the others were

rightly or wrongly, imagined so, and for the second time in

h of lively dogs came down again with an urgent

ress worse, J

at 'tis I dunnot know. Mebbe she's just down wi' it all. Have

I believe. He's

mebbe, an' he's got a tempe

mes, but he's an excel

yself and no offence taken, but Pasley did go past th' mark at times. Th' very hosses kicked when he let out. An' Jim Barclay

doctor's time is not en

om the hedge, and stuck it in his mo

grunted after a time, "you'd mebbe have mor

that,

is. It's bound to mek a difference. Folk

t th

r let it happen again. Even th' leeghtnin', they say, never strikes twice i' same place. Though sure 'nuff it did h

now all a

think a bit the worse o' you, Doctor, you b'lieve me. But some folks is fools-most folks, if it come

a time. But there was that in youn

t sit quiet till they done yelpin' and yappin' 'bout it all, then I'd marry th' missus,-we all knows you w

of the que

s old enough to be your feyther, an's known you since day you was born, might be o'

r father, but you'll both be doing me a fa

nner o

se at

rry. An' so's feyt

he fire in her bedroom, when he was taken up to her by Mollie, wh

n till night. 'Taint natural for sure, for him 'at's gone weren't one to cry for, that's cert'n.... No, she don't complain of any pain or anythi

irst see her, so sunk down was she in th

e her and quietly expressed his regret at finding her no bette

crouched there with hidden face, and he was truly sorry for her. It was i

he asked quietly, and the forlorn fi

s," he said gently again. "And there is r

touched him profoundly, for he penetrated the meaning of it. She was overwhelmed

y till the feeling, roused afresh

hielding hands. "I did not know you would do that.... You

moment, he leaped up a height which h

was irrevocably past and done with, and he must pay the price. But she was paying a double due-rem

er the rest?-her peace of mind, all h

ference between darkness and light for the rest of her life. And she looked pitif

bility in a flas

ant to hang you?" he asked, with all th

ed whisper. "Because

that. I was hoping a good night's rest w

. "Ah, if I could only believe it was a

ll, and your mind took the bit in its teeth and ran away with y

rge

I saw at once that there was an extra dose gone out of my strychnine bott

erly, with warped face and knitted brows, and a wavering flutter

to allow yourself to be ridden by this s

he rats? And did I not get it for him? And he took it. And then--" she shi

ream when your mind was

g me unless I kept my mouth shut? And I lay all

sorry. It must have be

the fire, hex hands clasping and unclas

ll you, and forget all abou

she said af

ht. Don't trouble y

er long silent gazing into the fire, "then

r,-all part of t

would think better of me ... as

lmost persuaded her to believe, he

d of sunshine into the blackness of her despair,-the sudden joy of the thought that it was not she who needed Wulfrey's forgiveness, but he hers;-the shadows a

her, but he was no longer in love with her. "At present all we've got to think about is getting

roach she could put into it, and an

you don't I shall turn you ove

ie, Doctor?" asked Mol

She's going t

u came to see her," said the astut

d her up. She's been le

e given her a bit of an appetite," said Moll