ripping, ... dripping."

The last drop had run. There was a sigh, and nothing more.

The surgeon laid down the hand.

"The first step," he groaned, rising to his feet; then his whole frame
dilated. "The first step--the most difficult, yet the simplest. A
providential delivery into my hands of that for which I have hungered
for forty years. No withdrawal now! It is possible, because scientific;
rational, but perilous. If I succeed--_if?_ I _shall_ succeed. I _will_
succeed.... And after success--what?... Yes; what? Publish the plan and
the result? The gallows.... So long as _it_ shall exist, ... and _I_
exist, the gallows. That much.... But how account for its presence? Ah,
that pinches hard! I must trust to the future."

He tore himself from the revery and started.

"I wonder if _she_ heard or saw anything."

With that reflection he cast a glance upon the form on the lounge, and
then left the room, locked the door, locked also the door of the outer
room, walked down two or three corridors, penetrated to a remote part
of the house, and rapped at a door. It was opened by his wife. He, by
this time, had regained complete mastery over himself.

"I thought I heard some one in the house just now," he said, "but I can
find no one."

"I heard nothing."

He was greatly relieved.

"I did hear some one knock at the door less than an hour ago," she
resumed, "and heard you speak, I think. Did he come in?"

"No."

The woman glanced at his feet and seemed perplexed.

"I am almost certain," she said, "that I heard foot-falls in the house,
and yet I see that you are wearing slippers."

"Oh, I had on my shoes then!"

"That explains it," said the woman, satisfied; "I think the sound you
heard must have been caused by rats."

"Ah, that was it!" exclaimed the surgeon. Leaving, he closed the door,
reopened it, and said, "I do not wish to be disturbed to-day." He said
to himself, as he went down the hall, "All is clear there."

He returned to the room in which his visitor lay, and made a careful
examination.

"Splendid specimen!" he softly exclaimed; "every organ sound, every
function perfect; fine, large frame; well-shaped muscles, strong and
sinewy; capable of wonderful development--if given opportunity.... I
have no doubt it can be done. Already I have succeeded with a dog,--a
task less difficult than this, for in a man the cerebrum overlaps the
cerebellum, which is not the case with a dog. This gives a wide range
f