ld give more constant attention to his patient during
this critical period of his disease. It was a risk to take, but he could
be carried on a litter by careful men, and remain wholly passive during
the removal. Maurice signified his assent, as he could hardly help
doing,--for the doctor's suggestion took pretty nearly the form of a
command. He thought it a matter of life and death, and was gently urgent
for his patient's immediate change of residence. The doctor insisted on
having Maurice's books and other movable articles carried to his own
house, so that he should be surrounded by familiar sights, and not worry
himself about what might happen to objects which he valued, if they were
left behind him.

All these dispositions were quickly and quietly made, and everything was
ready for the transfer of the patient to the house of the hospitable
physician. Paolo was at the doctor's, superintending the arrangement of
Maurice's effects and making all ready for his master. The nurse in
attendance, a trustworthy man enough in the main, finding his patient in
a tranquil sleep, left his bedside for a little fresh air. While he was
at the door he heard a shouting which excited his curiosity, and he
followed the sound until he found himself at the border of the lake. It
was nothing very wonderful which had caused the shouting. A Newfoundland
dog had been showing off his accomplishments, and some of the idlers were
betting as to the time it would take him to bring back to his master the
various floating objects which had been thrown as far from the shore as
possible. He watched the dog a few minutes, when his attention was drawn
to a light wherry, pulled by one young lady and steered by another. It
was making for the shore, which it would soon reach. The attendant
remembered all at once, that he had left his charge, and just before the
boat came to land he turned and hurried back to the patient. Exactly how
long he had been absent he could not have said,--perhaps a quarter of an
hour, perhaps longer; the time appeared short to him, wearied with long
sitting and watching.

It had seemed, when he stole away from Maurice's bedside, that he was not
in the least needed. The patient was lying perfectly quiet, and to all
appearance wanted nothing more than letting alone. It was such a comfort
to look at something besides the worn features of a sick man, to hear
something besides his labored breathing and faint, half-whispered words,
that