ting-point of their own houses, to the same spot, at the same time? Not one man in ten thousand has probably ever thought of making such a fantastic inq

indfold on his way to a patient in the future who was personally still a stranger to h

hat he had in view? Nothing but a series of trivial circumstance

ch drew up at his side. A bright benevolent face encircled by bushy white whiskers, looked out of the window, and a hearty voice a

patient, S

of da

the other doc

ghed: "They say

onvinc

convincing fools? Let's try another subject.

able agitation. Her brother's Will has been found in Italy.

Sir Richard

n't k

mon

my poor mother would be in a state of inde

window. "I have just seen an old patient of mine," he resumed, "in whom I feel a friendly interest. She is retiring from business by my advice; and she asks me, of all the people in the world, to help her in getting rid of some wonderful 'remnants,' at 'an alarming sa

iend, bound his way, had accepted a seat in the carriage. "Who i

dead many years since," Sir Richard repli

I ask

e; possessed of one small attraction - fifty thousand pounds, grubbed up in trade. There are two little daughters, by the second marriage. With such a stepfather as I have described, and, between ourselves, with a mother who has rather more than her fair share of the jealous, envious, and money-loving propensities of humanity, my friend Ovid is not diverted by family infl

es

ook his time to examine and think; and he saw the chance of saving the patient by venturing on the use of the lancet as plainly as I did - with my forty years' experience to teach me! A young man with that capacity for discovering the remote cause of disease, and with that superiority to the trammels of routine in applying the treatment, has no common medical career before him. His holiday will set his health right in nex

ed. Ovid remembered that he was going away on a long voyage - and Ovid was a good son. He bought some o

nto a by-street, near the flower and fruit market of Covent Garden. Here he met with the second in number

d from the smell to the flowery and fruity perfumes of Covent Garden, an

ards with news of Punch in a neighbouring street, and lead the little girl away with them? Why did these two new circumstances inspire him with a fear that the boys might take the strawberries away from the poor child, burdened as she was with a baby almost as big as

ons - for want of a paying audience. He waited at a certain distance, watching the children. His doubts had done them an injustice. The boys only said, "G

uld have returned to the pursuit of his own affairs, under these circumstances, without encou

, his hand touched something which felt like the envelope of a letter. He took it out - looked at it with an

e absorbing interest of making his preparations for leaving England, it had remained forgotten in his pocket for nearly two days. The one means of setting this unlucky error right, w

posite to the British Museum. In this

course for the College of Surgeons. Passing the walled garden of the British Museum, he looked towards it - and

e showed itsel

ld happen next. Two women, meeting him, and seeing a smile on his lips, had said to each other, "There goes a happy man." If they had encountered

is head drooped; he moved mechanically. Arrived in the street, he lif

ce numbered with the dead. The present time, with its interests and anxieties, passed away like the passing of a dream. Little by little, as the minutes followed each other, his sore heart felt a calming

have found a solitude more cong

and look about, safe from collision with merciless straight-walkers whose time is money, and whose destiny is business. Here, you may meet undisturbed cats on the pavement, in the full glare of noontide, and may watch, through the railings of the squares, children at play on grass that almost glows with the

ing fish to the cook, and two girls watering flowers at a window, were t

ns brought with them no feeling of anxiety or surprise. He turned, in a half-

e rapidly approaching him. One of them, as they came n

curiosity of strangers, as they went by. The girl's eyes and his met.

opping to think - without being capable of thought - Ovid followed them. Never before had he done what

eft. A concert-hall was in the street - with doors open for an afternoon p