re might be some local
source of infection which had brought on the complaint, and was still
keeping up the symptoms which were the ground of alarm. He determined to
remove Maurice to his own house, where he could be sure of pure air,
and where he himself could give more constant attention to his patient
during this critical period of his disease. It was a risk to take,
but he could be carried on a litter by careful men, and remain wholly
passive during the removal. Maurice signified his assent, as he could
hardly help doing,--for the doctor's suggestion took pretty nearly the
form of a command. He thought it a matter of life and death, and was
gently urgent for his patient's immediate change of residence. The
doctor insisted on having Maurice's books and other movable articles
carried to his own house, so that he should be surrounded by familiar
sights, and not worry himself about what might happen to objects which
he valued, if they were left behind him.

All these dispositions were quickly and quietly made, and everything
was ready for the transfer of the patient to the house of the hospitable
physician. Paolo was at the doctor's, superintending the arrangement
of Maurice's effects and making all ready for his master. The nurse in
attendance, a trustworthy man enough in the main, finding his patient in
a tranquil sleep, left his bedside for a little fresh air. While he
was at the door he heard a shouting which excited his curiosity, and he
followed the sound until he found himself at the border of the lake. It
was nothing very wonderful which had caused the shouting. A Newfoundland
dog had been showing off his accomplishments, and some of the idlers
were betting as to the time it would take him to bring back to his
master the various floating objects which had been thrown as far from
the shore as possible. He watched the dog a few minutes, when his
attention was drawn to a light wherry, pulled by one young lady and
steered by another. It was making for the shore, which it would soon
reach. The attendant remembered all at once, that he had left his
charge, and just before the boat came to land he turned and hurried back
to the patient. Exactly how long he had been absent he could not have
said,--perhaps a quarter of an hour, perhaps longer; the time appeared
short to him, wearied with long sitting and watching.

It had seemed, when he stole away from Maurice's bedside, that he was
not in the least needed. The patient