tempt to disperse it
with the assurance that Father Damon was better; it patiently waited to
see for itself. The sympathy of the neighborhood was most impressive,
and perhaps the thing that the public best remembers about this incident
is the pathetic solicitude of the people among whom Father Damon labored
at the rumor of his illness, a matter which was greatly elaborated by
the reporters from the city journals and the purveyors of telegraphic
news for the country.

With the application of restoratives the patient revived. When he
opened his eyes he saw figures in the room as in a dream, and his mind
struggled to remember where he was and what had happened; but one thing
was not a dream: Dr. Leigh stood by his bedside, with her left hand on
his brow and the right grasping his own right hand, as if to pull
him back to life. He saw her face, and then he lost it again in sheer
weariness at the effort. After a few moments, in a recurring wave of
strength, he looked up again, still bewildered, and said, faintly:

"Where am I?"

"With friends," said the doctor. "You were a little faint, that is all;
you will be all right presently."

She quickly prepared some nourishment, which was what he most needed,
and fed him from time to time, as he was able to receive it. Gradually
he could feel a little vigor coming into his frame; and regaining
control of himself, he was able to hear what had happened. Very gently
the doctor told him, making light of his temporary weakness.

"The fact is, Father Damon," she said, "you've got a disease common in
this neighborhood--hunger."

The father smiled, but did not reply. It might be so. For the time he
felt his dependence, and he did not argue the point. This dependence
upon a woman--a sort of Sister of Charity, was she not?--was not
altogether unpleasant. When he attempted to rise, but found that he was
too weak, and she said "Not yet," he submitted, with the feeling that to
be commanded with such gentleness was a sort of luxury.

But in an hour's time he declared that he was almost himself again,
and it was decided that he was well enough to be removed to his own
apartments in the neighborhood. A carriage was sent for, and the
transfer was made, and made through a crowd in the streets, which
stood silent and uncovered as his carriage passed through it. Dr. Leigh
remained with him for an hour longer, and then left him in charge of a
young gentleman from the Neighborhood Guild, who gla