s of success are good?"

Dr. Ferris's voice rang out heartily. "Splendid!" he said, "splendid!"
He turned once more to Wilmot. "I am sorry for you," he said kindly,
"but you are willing that we should go ahead, aren't you?"

Blizzard stood, hesitating.

"Not losing your nerve?" asked the surgeon, and there was the least hint
of mockery in his voice.

"Hope this is the last time I have to walk on stumps," Blizzard
answered, and he began to move toward the door.

"I hope so, too, Blizzard," said Dr. Ferris, "with all my heart." And
with an encouraging nod to Wilmot he followed the beggar out of the
room, and closed the door behind him.

In the operating quarter were two nurses on whom Dr. Ferris had been
able to rely for many years, and three clean-cut young surgeons, in whom
he had detected more than ordinary talents.

"He said he'd send word when he was ready," said one of the nurses.

"Good," said Dr. Ferris, "for I have a few words to say to you all,
knowing that, because of the etiquette of our profession, these words
will not go any further."

For five minutes he spoke quietly and gravely. He told them his
relations with Blizzard since the beginning. And something of Blizzard's
relations, subsequent to the loss of his legs, with the rest of the
world. Then he explained the operation which he was _expected_ to
perform, enlarging upon both its chances for success and for failure.
And then, much to the astonishment of his audience, he brought his talk
to an end with these words:

"But in this instance the operation has no chance whatever of success.
The stump of a limb amputated in childhood does not keep pace with the
rest of the body-growth. And we should be trying to graft the legs of a
grown man upon the hips of a child. It seems, therefore, that I have
brought you here under false pretenses. Technically I am going to commit
a crime--I am going to perform an operation not thought of or sanctioned
by the patient. But my conscience is clear. When I examined the child
Blizzard after he had been run over, I did not give the attention which
would be given nowadays to minor injuries, bruises, and contusions which
he had sustained. From all accounts the boy was a good boy up to the
time of his accident. In taking off his legs I have blamed myself for
the whole of his subsequent downfall. I think I have been wrong. The man
was once arrested for a crime, and freed on police perjury. During his
incarceration, how