celebrate
his holiday by taking a walk; his destination being the central
telegraph office in London.

But, before he left the house, his domestic duties claimed attention. He
issued his orders to the cook.

At three o'clock he would return to dinner. That day was to witness the
celebration of his first regular meat for forty-eight hours past; and
he expected the strictest punctuality. The cook--lately engaged--was a
vigourous little woman, with fiery hair and a high colour. She, like the
man-servant, felt the genial influence of her master's amiability. He
looked at her, for the first time since she had entered the house. A
twinkling light showed itself furtively in his dreary gray eyes: he took
a dusty old hand-screen from the sideboard, and made her a present of
it! "There," he said with his dry humour, "don't spoil your complexion
before the kitchen fire." The cook possessed a sanguine temperament, and
a taste to be honoured and encouraged--the taste for reading novels. She
put her own romantic construction on the extraordinary compliment which
the doctor's jesting humour had paid to her. As he walked out, grimly
smiling and thumping his big stick on the floor, a new idea illuminated
her mind. Her master admired her; her master was no ordinary man--it
might end in his marrying her.

On his way to the telegraph office, Benjulia left Ovid's letters at Mrs.
Gallilee's house.

If he had personally returned them, he would have found the learned
lady in no very gracious humour. On the previous day she had discovered
Carmina and Miss Minerva engaged in a private conference--without having
been able even to guess what the subject under discussion between them
might be. They were again together that morning. Maria and Zo had
gone to church with their father; Miss Minerva was kept at home by a
headache. At that hour, and under those circumstances, there was no
plausible pretence which would justify Mrs. Gallilee's interference.
She seriously contemplated the sacrifice of a month's salary, and the
dismissal of her governess without notice.

When the footman opened the door, Benjulia handed in the packet of
letters. After his latest experience of Mrs. Gallilee, he had no
intention of returning her visit. He walked away without uttering a
word.

The cable took his message to Mr. Morphew in these terms:--"Ovid's
patient at Montreal. Was the complaint brain disease? Yes or no." Having
made arrangements for the forwarding