matter.'

It was not one o'clock, in fact.

'They _will_ make mistakes, Sir; but you will not suffer their blunders
long, I warrant,' said Dangerfield, lightly. 'Pray, Sir, can we have a
room for a moment to ourselves?'

'We can, Sir, 'tis a liberal house; we can have any thing; liberty
itself, Sir--for an adequate sum,' replied Mr. Dillon.

Whatever the sum was, the room was had, and the surgeon, who had
palpably left his 'naggin' uneasily in company with the gentleman in the
hat, and him without a wig, eyed Dangerfield curiously, thinking that
possibly his grand-aunt Molly had left him the fifty guineas she was
rumoured to have sewed up in her stays.

'There's a great deal of diversion, Sir, in five hundred guineas, said
Mr. Dangerfield, and the spectacles dashed pleasantly upon the doctor.

'Ye may say that,' answered the grinning surgeon, with a quiet oath of
expectation.

''Tis a handsome fee, Sir, and you may have it.'

'Five hundred guineas!'

'Ah, you've heard, Sir, perhaps, of the attempted murder in the park, on
Doctor Sturk, of the Artillery; for which Mr. Nutter now lies in
prison?' said Mr. Dangerfield.

'That I have, Sir.'

'Well, you shall have the money, Sir, if you perform a simple
operation.'

''Tis not to hang him you want me?' said the doctor, with a gloomy
sneer.

'Hang him!--ha, ha--no, Sir, Doctor Sturk still lives, but insensible.
He must be brought to consciousness, and speech. Now, the trepan is the
only way to effect it; and I'll be frank with you: Doctor Pell has been
with him half a dozen times, and he says the operation would be
instantaneously fatal. I don't believe him. So also says Sir Hugh
Skelton, to whom I wrote in London--I don't believe him, either. At all
events, the man is dying, and can't last very many days longer, so
there's nothing risked. His wife wishes the operation; here's her note;
and I'll give you five hundred guineas and--what are you here for?'

'Only eighteen, unless some more has come in this morning,' answered the
doctor.

'And your liberty, Sir, _that_ on the spot, if you undertake the
operation, and the fee so soon as you have done it.'

The doctor's face blazed with a grin of exultation; he squared his
shoulders and shook himself a little; and after a little silence, he
demanded--

'Can you describe the case, Sir, as you stated it to Sir Hugh Skelton?'

'Surely, Sir, but I rely for it and the terms, upon the description of a
village doct