t was a face one could
never forget. Clever half-tones, remarkably like, were published in all
the leading papers at the time; but such procedure gave rise to nothing
but the uncontrollable public curiosity and interminable copy to the
space-writers.

For want of a better name, the rescued suicide was known to the hospital
attendants, and to the world, as Semper Idem. And Semper Idem he
remained. Reporters, detectives, and nurses gave him up in despair.
Not one word could he be persuaded to utter; yet the flitting conscious
light of his eyes showed that his ears heard and his brain grasped every
question put to him.

But this mystery and romance played no part in Doctor Bicknell's
interest when he paused in the office to have a parting word with his
patient. He, the Doctor, had performed a prodigy in the matter of this
man, done what was virtually unprecedented in the annals of surgery. He
did not care who or what the man was, and it was highly improbable
that he should ever see him again; but, like the artist gazing upon a
finished creation, he wished to look for the last time upon the work of
his hand and brain.

Semper Idem still remained mute. He seemed anxious to be gone. Not a
word could the Doctor extract from him, and little the Doctor cared.
He examined the throat of the convalescent carefully, idling over the
hideous scar with the lingering, half-caressing fondness of a parent.
It was not a particularly pleasing sight. An angry line circled the
throat--for all the world as though the man had just escaped the
hangman's noose--and, disappearing below the ear on either side, had the
appearance of completing the fiery periphery at the nape of the neck.

Maintaining his dogged silence, yielding to the other's examination in
much the manner of a leashed lion, Semper Idem betrayed only his desire
to drop from out of the public eye.

"Well, I'll not keep you," Doctor Bicknell finally said, laying a hand
on the man's shoulder and stealing a last glance at his own handiwork.
"But let me give you a bit of advice. Next time you try it on, hold
your chin up, so. Don't snuggle it down and butcher yourself like a cow.
Neatness and despatch, you know. Neatness and despatch."

Semper Idem's eyes flashed in token that he heard, and a moment later
the hospital door swung to on his heel.

It was a busy day for Doctor Bicknell, and the afternoon was well along
when he lighted a cigar preparatory to leaving the table upon w