refrom a roll of cotton-wool in blue paper, and
a considerable quantity of sticking-plaster on a brass reel. He
accepted, however, Rachel's warm water.

"You might get me some Condy's Fluid," he said shortly.

She had none! It was a terrible lapse for a capable housewife.

Dr. Yardley raised his eyebrows: "No Condy's Fluid in the house!"

She was condemned.

"I do happen to have a couple of tablets of Chinosol," he said, "but I
wanted to keep them in reserve for later in the day."

He threw two yellow tablets into the basin of water.

Then he laid Louis flat on the sofa, asked him a few questions, and
sounded him in various parts. And at length he slowly, but firmly,
drew off Mrs. Heath's bandages, and displayed Louis' head to the
light.

"Hm!" he exclaimed.

Rachel restrained herself from any sound. But the spectacle was
ghastly. The one particle of comfort in the dreadful matter was that
Louis could not see himself.

Thenceforward Dr. Yardley seemed to forget that he ought to have been
elsewhere. Working with extraordinary deliberation, he coaxed out
of Louis' flesh sundry tiny stones and many fragments of mud,
straightened twisted bits of skin, and he removed other pieces
entirely. He murmured, "Hm!" at intervals. He expressed a brief
criticism of the performance of Mrs. Heath, as distinguished from her
intentions. He also opined that the great Greene might not perhaps
have succeeded much better than Mrs. Heath, even if he had not been
bilious. When the dressing was finished, the gruesome terror of Louis'
appearance seemed to be much increased. The heroic sufferer rose and
glanced at himself in the mirror, and gave a faint whistle.

"Oh! So that's what I look like, is it? Well, what price me as a
victim of the Inquisition!" he remarked.

"I should advise you not to take exercise just now, young man," said
the doctor. "D'you feel pretty well?"

"Pretty well," answered Louis, and sat down.

In the lobby the doctor, once more in a hurry, said to Rachel--

"Better get him quietly to bed. The wounds are not serious, but he's
had a very severe shock."

"He's not marked for life, is he?" Rachel asked anxiously.

"I shouldn't think so," said the doctor, as if the point was a minor
one. "Let him have some nourishment. You can begin with hot milk--but
put some water to it," he added when he was half-way down the steps.

As Rachel re-entered the parlour she said to herself: "I shall just
have to get him t