ticle,
which was at his house.

"I will go and get it, doctor. It's not far, and I think a little
fresh air will do me good and help me to remain awake better," said
Robert.

He went downstairs, and the doctor followed him as he went out into the
hall and flung on his overcoat. Mr. Hardy turned before he opened the
door:

"Doctor, tell me the truth about my girl. What is her condition?"

"It is serious; but more than that I cannot say. There is a
possibility that by means of a slight operation the disastrous
consequences of the shock to her eyes may be averted; and it is
possible that the other results of which I hinted may not be realised.
It is not in medical power to decide with certainty."

So Mr. Hardy went out into the night with a glimmer of hope in his
breast. It was snowing again, and a strong wind was blowing, so he
buttoned his big coat close up, drew his hat down over his brows, and
leaning forward, walked as rapidly as he could against the wind in the
direction of the doctor's house. The streets were almost deserted.
The lights at the corners flickered and showed pale through the lamps.
As he turned down a narrow street, intending to make a short cut across
a park that lay near the doctor's, he was suddenly seized by three or
four young men, and one of them said in a tone betraying a drunken
debauch:

"Hold up your hands and deliver! You've got plenty of chink and we
haven't! So no squalling, or we'll shoot you for it."

Mr. Hardy was taken completely by surprise. But he was a vigorous,
athletic man, and his first impulse was to shake himself loose, to
knock down two of his assailants next to him and make a run for it.
His next glance, however, showed him the nature of the group of young
men. They were not professional robbers, but young men about town who
had been drinking late and were evidently out on a lark, and were
holding him up just for fun. Mr. Hardy guessed exactly right. What
could he do? Two of the young men were known to him, the sons of the
Bramleys, who were well-to-do people in Barton. Mr. Hardy's next
impulse was to discover himself to them and beg them to quit such
dangerous fooling and go home. The three other young men were in
shadow, and he could not recognise them. All this passed through his
thought with a flash. But before he had time to do anything, a police
officer sprang out of a doorway near by, and the group of young men,
dropping their hold of Mr. Har