e
would not be alone in the final catastrophe.

"One day when I was in the dumps, he came to me, placed his hand on my
shoulder, and said:

"Gifford, come with me. I want to make a new man out of you.' ... He
did!--the kind of man you'll know me to be when my story is done.

"I went with him to his room. From a small bottle, he handed me a
pellet, with instruction to swallow it. I must ask no question--merely
return to my work, and see if it did not ease my labors. I did as
directed. I found the promised relief--I could do wonders. Very soon, I
became the leader of my class. There were no questions asked. Whenever I
felt depressed, I went to the tutor's room and he came to my rescue.

"It was nearly a month before I was certain what he was giving me. As
you, Miss Marion, have trusted me as a friend, so I trusted this man.
One day I went back to this fellow for more 'Brain Food'--as I had
innocently begun to term it. I had been accustomed to entering his room
without knocking, but on this occasion the door was locked. He heard me
rattling the knob, and called out to know who was there. I shouted in
answer and said it was Garnet after more Brain Food. He then unlatched
the door and admitted me. His coat was off and one arm was bare. Upon a
small stand was a hypodermic outfit. I was surprised, for I had never
seen the fellow take medicine of any kind. He laughingly remarked that I
was just in time--that he was not feeling quite himself and so was
taking a little Brain Food 'the other way.'

"I guessed now that the drug I had been taking was indeed morphia. For a
moment, I was startled and alarmed. But the fright was of short
duration. I had already developed a craving for this thing that so
helped me on with my work. The tutor bade me remove my coat, roll up my
shirt-sleeve, and allow him to give me a little Brain Food in his way.
Needless to say, I did as he ordered. That was my first 'shot'.... Years
ago, that man killed himself--perhaps in remorse for his crime against
me and others corrupted by him."

The Doctor sat silent for a long minute in brooding contemplation over
this beginning of the vice that had mastered him, and now threatened at
last to destroy him.

"It was not long after this," he resumed, still with that toneless
monotony of voice, "that I began my life-work. Sometimes, I would go for
long periods without resorting to the needle. That has helped me in the
deception of my patients. For long inter