pped out of one of
the dark doorways they were passing in the low colonnade.

"Want to see me, my lads?"

"N-no," stammered Andrew, thoroughly taken aback. "We--were talking
about you starting the baron off."

"Oh, I see," said the doctor, smiling. "Of course, I saw you there.
Yes, he's gone. Hah! Yes! That was a very peculiar wound, young
gentlemen; and I honestly believe that not one in a hundred in my
profession could have saved his life. I worked very hard over his case,
and he went off, without so much as giving me a little souvenir--a pin
or a ring, or a trifle of that kind--seal, for instance."

"What could you expect from one of those Germans, sir?" said Andrew
contemptuously.

"Yes, what indeed!" said the doctor, taking snuff, and looking curiously
at Frank. "Bad habit this, young man. Don't you follow my example.
Dirty habit, eh? But, I say, young fellow," he added, turning to
Andrew, "a still tongue maketh a wise head. Wise man wouldn't shout
under the Palace windows such sentiments as those, holding the German
nation up to contempt. There, a nod's as good as a wink to a blind
horse. Here, Gowan, what's the last news?"

"I don't know of any, sir."

"Come, come! I'm a friend of his. You needn't be so close with me. I
mean about your father."

"I have none, sir."

"Eh? Don't you know where he is?"

"No, sir," said Frank sadly.

"Humph! Pity!" said the doctor, taking a fresh pinch of snuff.
"Because, if you had known, you might have written to tell him that I've
cured the baron, and sent him away. Yes, I worked very hard over his
case. Many's the night I sat up with him, so that he shouldn't, slip
through my fingers. For it would have been so much worse for your
father if he had."

"Yes, horrible," said Frank.

"I say, you ought to get him back now. Have a try."

"But what can I do, sir?" cried Frank eagerly.

"Oh, I don't know. No use to ask me, boy. Politics are not in my way.
If you like to come to me with a broken bone, or a cut, or a hole in you
anywhere, I'm your man, and I'll try and set you right. Or if you want
a dose of good strong physic, I'll mix you up something that will make
you smack your lips and shout for sugar. But that other sort of thing
is quite out of my way. What do you say to our all signing a round
robin, and sending it into the King? for we all want Gowan back."

"Yes, sir--capital!" cried Frank; but Andrew smiled contemptuously.

"Or lo