is enough to make a man go
out of his mind."

"I don't see that that would be likely to mend matters," the doctor said
dryly; "in fact it would lessen the one chance that exists of ever
setting the matter straight. As I have told him, though these children
are very much alike at present--and indeed most babies are--it is
probable that as they grow up there will no longer be any resemblance
whatever, and that his own child will develop a likeness either to him
or Mrs. Clinton, while the other child will resemble the sergeant or his
wife."

"We must hope it will be so," the major said, "though there are lots of
fellows who don't resemble in the least either of their parents. But
what is Clinton going to do about it?"

"He has not settled yet. His wife was in no condition to discuss the
matter, poor lady! My suggestion was that he should bring up both the
children as if they were his own, until one or other of them develops
this likeness that I was speaking of."

"I suppose that is the best thing they can do, doctor; but it will be an
awful business if, as they grow up, no likeness to anybody can be
detected in either of them."

"Well, major, although at present it does seem an awful thing, it won't
seem so bad at the end, say, of twenty years. They will naturally by
that time be as fond of one as the other. The boys, in fact, will be
like twins; and I suppose the property can be divided in some such way
as it would be were they really in that relation to each other."

"But, you see, doctor," one of the captains said, "Mrs. Humphreys has to
be considered to a certain extent too. It is hard on Mrs. Clinton; but
if she gets both boys she is certain at any rate that one of them is her
son, and Mrs. Humphreys will, by that arrangement, have to lose her
child altogether. That seems to me pretty rough on her."

"Well, she brought it on herself," the doctor replied. "The whole thing
has arisen from her carelessness."

"Do you think it was carelessness, doctor?" the major asked.

"That is a matter on which I will give no opinion, major. It is one upon
which one man can form a judgment as well as another. The thing may very
well have happened in the way she describes; and again it may be a very
cunningly devised plot on her part. It is evident she had everything to
gain by such an accident. She would get her child taken off her hands,
educated, and provided for. She would calculate no doubt that she would
be their nurse