my prescription entirely,
he did quite as much as I had dared, even in my most sanguine moments,
to expect. And though his leg did not at first improve much, it was
something to find that during the very hottest weather of the season it
did not grow worse.

For three months he did not use, as he said, so much as fifty cents
worth of pork, nor much salted food of any kind. He abandoned entirely
all drinks but water, and all condiments with his food except a little
salt. He subsisted almost wholly on bread, fruits, and vegetables, with
a very little flesh or fish.

At the end of three months he ventured abroad more than before; and as
it was now near the middle of October, he consented to put on woollen
stockings. But he made one change at this time which I had not intended.
He returned to the use of one of his former greasy and worse than
useless ointments. In the course of the month, however, in spite of the
foul external application, his leg was entirely healed; and the swelling
considerably abated. In short, at the close of the year he had entirely
recovered.

The friends and neighbors attributed the cure to the ointment. How very
unreasonable! The ointment had been used during the spring, up to the
time when he came under my direction, without any apparent benefit. What
evidence then was there that it had been useful now? Why should not the
change for the better be attributed to his increased exercise, the
change of air and food, and the stimulus and warmth of woollen
stockings? Had water, moreover, as his only drink, nothing to do with
the cure?

But while standing in the position I did, it was useless to decry the
ointment or exalt my own treatment, since it would have been regarded as
merely special pleading. Still, I did not shrink wholly from the
statement of my honest convictions, whenever I was inquired of, even
though I did not manifest a disposition to carry the war into Africa.

CHAPTER LI.

SUDDEN CHANGES IN OLD AGE.

Mrs. N. was about seventy years of age. In her early years she had
possessed a sort of masculine constitution; and though embarrassed by
poverty, had reared a large family of children, who were all well
settled in the world. She resided with the youngest but one of them,
where she did just as she pleased. In short, she had a good home, and,
had she enjoyed health, might have been happy.

But a change had come over her in point of health, which it was not so
easy to account