so full of understanding, that she shrank within herself
and said no more. She knew, however, that he longed for the sustaining
hand of his only blood relation, that he looked upon himself as utterly
alone in these last few weeks of life; and yet he would not send out the
appeal that lay uppermost in his thoughts. In his own good time Braden
would come back and there would be perhaps' one long, farewell grip of the
hand.

After that, ironic peace.

He could not be cured himself, but he wanted to be sure that Braden was
cured before he passed away. He knew that his grandson would not come home
until the last vestige of love and respect for Anne Tresslyn was gone; not
until he was sure that his wound had healed beyond all danger of bleeding
again. Mr. Thorpe was satisfied that he had served his grandson well. He
was confident that the young man would thank him on his death-bed for
turning the hand of fate in the right direction, so that it pointed to
contentment and safety. Therefore, he felt himself justified in forbidding
any one to acquaint Braden of the desperate condition into which he had
fallen. He insisted that no word be sent to him, and, as in all things,
the singular power of old Templeton Thorpe prevailed over the forces that
were opposed. Letters came to him infrequently from the young
man,--considerate, formal letters in which he never failed to find the
touch of repressed gratitude that inspired the distant writer. Soon he
would be coming home to "set up for himself." Soon he would be fighting
the battle of life on the field that no man knew and yet was traversed by
all.

Dr. Bates and the eminent surgeons who came to see the important invalid,
discussed among themselves, but never in the presence of Mr. Thorpe, the
remarkable and revolutionary articles that had been appearing of late in
one of the medical journals over the signature of Braden Thorpe. There
were two articles, one in answer to a savage, denunciatory communication
that had been drawn out by the initial contribution from the pen of young
Thorpe.

In his first article, Braden had deliberately taken a stand in favour of
the merciful destruction of human life in cases where suffering is
unendurable and the last chance for recovery or even relief is lost. He
had the courage, the foolhardiness to sign his name to the article,
thereby irrevocably committing himself to the propaganda. A storm of
sarcasm ensued. The great surgeons of the land igno