nexpectedly
in, and caught him.

Not for the litter and confusion was Jan displeased, but because he
found that Master Cheese had so bungled chemical properties in his head,
so confounded one dangerous substance with another, that, five minutes
later, the result would probably have been the blowing off of the
surgery roof, and Master Cheese and his vessels with it. Jan was giving
him a sharp and decisive word, not to attempt anything of the sort
again, until he could bring more correct knowledge to bear upon it, when
Lionel interrupted them.

"I want to speak to you, Jan," he said.

"Here, you be off, and wash the powder from your hands," cried Jan to
Master Cheese, who was looking ruefully cross. "I'll put the things
straight."

The young gentleman departed. Lionel sat down on the only chair he could
see--one probably kept for the accommodation of patients who might want
a few teeth drawn. Jan was rapidly reducing the place to order.

"What is it, Lionel?" he asked, when it was pretty clear.

"Jan, you must see Sibylla. She wants to go to Deerham Hall to-morrow
night."

"She can't go," replied Jan. "Nonsense."

"But she says she will go."

Jan leaned his long body over the counter, and brought his face nearly
on a level with Lionel's, speaking slowly and impressively--

"If she goes, Lionel, it will kill her."

Lionel rose to depart. He was on his way to Verner's Pride. "I called in
to tell you this, Jan, and to ask you to step up and remonstrate with
her."

"Very well," said Jan. "Mark me, Lionel, _she must not go_. And if
there's no other way of keeping her away, you, her husband, must forbid
it. A little more excitement than usual, and there'll be another vessel
of the lungs ruptured. If that happens, nothing can save her life. Keep
her at home, by force, if necessary: any way, keep her."

"And what of the excitement that that will cause?" questioned Lionel.
"It may be as fatal as the other."

"I don't know," returned Jan, speaking for once in his life testily, in
the vexation the difficulty brought him. "My belief is that Sibylla's
mad. She'd never be so stupid, were she sane."

"Go to her, and see what you can do," concluded Lionel, as he turned
away.

Jan proceeded to Deerham Court, and had an interview with Mrs. Verner.
It was not of a very agreeable nature, neither did much satisfaction
ensue from it. After a few recriminating retorts to Jan's arguments,
which he received as equably as tho