ver he was dressed, he always looked shabby, and he could never have
been mistaken for anything but an English gentleman.

He shook hands with Mr. Wedmore, with a smile. These poor Londoners,
trying to acclimatize themselves, amused him greatly. He looked upon
them much as the Londoner looks upon the Polish Jew immigrants--with
pity, a little jealousy, and no little scorn.

"Where's Carlo?" asked he.

"Oh, Carlo was a nuisance, so I've sent him to the stable," said Mr.
Wedmore, with the slightly colder manner which he instantly assumed if
any grievance of his, however small, was touched upon.

Carlo was a young retriever, which Mr. Wedmore, in the stern belief that
it was the proper thing in a country house, had encouraged about the
house until his habits of getting between everybody's legs and helping
himself to the contents of everybody's plate had so roused the ire of
the rest of the household that Mr. Wedmore had had to give way to the
universal prejudice against him.

The doctor shook his head. Lack of capacity for managing a dog was just
what one might have expected from these new-comers.

Mr. Wedmore turned his chair to face that of the doctor, and spoke in
the sharp, incisive tones of a man who has serious business on hand.

"I've been hoping you would drop in every night for the last fortnight,"
said he, "and as you didn't come, I was at last obliged to send for you.
I have a very important matter to consult you about. You've brought your
pipe?" The doctor produced it from his pocket. "Well, fill it, and
listen. It's about young Horne--Dudley Horne--that I want to speak to
you, to consult you, in fact."

The doctor nodded as he filled his pipe.

"The young barrister I've met here, who's engaged to your elder
daughter?"

"Well, she was all but engaged to him," admitted Mr. Wedmore, in a
grudging tone. "But I'm going to put a stop to it, and I'll tell you
why." Here he got up, as if unable to keep still in the state of
excitement into which he was falling, and stood with his hands behind
him and his back to the fire. "I have a strong suspicion that the young
man's not quite right here." And lowering his voice, Mr. Wedmore touched
his forehead.

"Good gracious! You surprise me!" cried the doctor. "He always seemed to
me such a clever young fellow. Indeed, you said so to me yourself."

"So he is. Very clever," said Mr. Wedmore, shortly. "I don't suppose
there are many young chaps of his age--for he's