but scratches; they won't hurt."

"Well, he is a human creature, with an immortal soul, and I shall take
care of him, anyhow. There is nobody else to do it, so I intend to," I
said as calmly as I could, after all this terrible information, which
had shaken me none the less for the doctor's indifferent tone and
manner.

"Very well, ma'am, I wish you success. There's nothing to do now but
keep him quiet until I come back after breakfast."

I walked in alone and looked at the still, white face under the
bandages. He was evidently under the influence of a heavy opiate, for
there was no sign of life, except the faint breathing.

I could not help feeling a great pity for the young man, so friendless
and so indifferently regarded, and with such a future to look forward
to in his recovery. No clue could be found to his past or his family,
if he had any.

I took it as more than mere accident that he had fallen thus helpless
and suffering into my hands, and resolved to use to the utmost my
skill and influence for the best.

He lay for a good many days--I cannot tell just how many--in a
comatose condition, and I did not for a moment relax my watch, except
to take a little rest now and then. At length there began to be signs
of returning consciousness. The dull eyes would open and gaze vacantly
around the room.

He could utter a few incoherent words, and the hands groped in a
troubled way among the bed-clothes. And day by day, as the bronze tint
of the skin disappeared, and the features grew clearer and thinner,
that marvellous likeness grew stronger, until, looking at him, I
rubbed my eyes sometimes, and believed myself the victim of an
hallucination.

One morning, at length, he opened his eyes, and looked at me with a
new intelligence, an attentiveness that I had never seen in him
before.

As he lay there with bright open eyes the likeness was simply
intolerable, as I thought of the career that he represented. I busied
myself in bringing the basin of water and sponge to bathe his face and
hands. He was evidently trying to recall the circumstances of his
injury and account for his presence there, for he looked in turn at me
and the room, and then at the bed in which he lay.

"Mrs. Spencer, I cannot think how you come to be here. Was I much
hurt?"

"Yes, you were pretty badly hurt, but you will soon be all right now
if you keep quiet. Don't move your head. I will wash your hands now."

He closed his eyes as if wear