which Brother Soulsby, who had dabbled considerably in medicine,
admitted that he was puzzled about. Sometimes he thought that it was
typhoid, and then again there were symptoms which looked suspiciously
like brain fever. The Methodists of Octavius counted no physician among
their numbers, and when, on the second day, Alice grew scared, and
decided, with Brother Soulsby's assent, to call in professional advice,
the only doctor's name she could recall was that of Ledsmar. She was
conscious of an instinctive dislike for the vague image of him her fancy
had conjured up, but the reflection that he was Theron's friend, and so
probably would be more moderate in his charges, decided her.

Brother Soulsby showed a most comforting tact and swiftness of
apprehension when Alice, in mentioning Dr. Ledsmar's name, disclosed by
her manner a fear that his being sent for would create talk among the
church people. He volunteered at once to act as messenger himself, and,
with no better guide than her dim hints at direction, found the doctor
and brought him back to the parsonage.

Dr. Ledsmar expressly disclaimed to Soulsby all pretence of professional
skill, and made him understand that he went along solely because
he liked Mr. Ware, and was interested in him, and in any case would
probably be of as much use as the wisest of strange physicians--a view
which the little revivalist received with comprehending nods of tacit
acquiescence. Ledsmar came, and was taken up to the sick-room. He sat
on the bedside and talked with Theron awhile, and then went downstairs
again. To Alice's anxious inquiries, he replied that it seemed to him
merely a case of over-work and over-worry, about which there was not the
slightest occasion for alarm.

"But he says the strangest things," the wife put in. "He has been quite
delirious at times."

"That means only that his brain is taking a rest as well as his body,"
remarked Ledsmar. "That is Nature's way of securing an equilibrium of
repose--of recuperation. He will come out of it with his mind all the
fresher and clearer."

"I don't believe he knows shucks!" was Alice's comment when she closed
the street door upon Dr. Ledsmar. "Anybody could have come in and looked
at a sick man and said, 'Leave him alone.' You expect something more
from a doctor. It's his business to say what to do. And I suppose he'll
charge two dollars for just telling me that my husband was resting!"

"No," said Brother Soulsby, "he