ve this incubus that was on his
shoulders; he could not do other than be very far from loving him. Of
what use or value was he to any one? What could the world make of him
that would be good, or he of the world? Was not an early death his
certain fate? The earlier it might be, would it not be the better?

Were he to linger on yet for two years longer--and such a space of
life was possible for him--how great would be the mischief that he
might do; nay, certainly would do! Farewell then to all hopes for
Greshamsbury, as far as Mary was concerned. Farewell then to that
dear scheme which lay deep in the doctor's heart, that hope that he
might, in his niece's name, give back to the son the lost property of
the father. And might not one year--six months be as fatal. Frank,
they all said, must marry money; and even he--he the doctor himself,
much as he despised the idea for money's sake--even he could not but
confess that Frank, as the heir to an old, but grievously embarrassed
property, had no right to marry, at his early age, a girl without
a shilling. Mary, his niece, his own child, would probably be the
heiress of this immense wealth; but he could not tell this to Frank;
no, nor to Frank's father while Sir Louis was yet alive. What, if by
so doing he should achieve this marriage for his niece, and that then
Sir Louis should live to dispose of his own? How then would he face
the anger of Lady Arabella?

"I will never hanker after a dead man's shoes, neither for myself nor
for another," he had said to himself a hundred times; and as often
did he accuse himself of doing so. One path, however, was plainly
open before him. He would keep his peace as to the will; and would
use such efforts as he might use for a son of his own loins to
preserve the life that was so valueless. His wishes, his hopes,
his thoughts, he could not control; but his conduct was at his own
disposal.

"I say, doctor, you don't really think that I'm going to die?" Sir
Louis said, when Dr Thorne again visited him.

"I don't think at all; I am sure you will kill yourself if you
continue to live as you have lately done."

"But suppose I go all right for a while, and live--live just as you
tell me, you know?"

"All of us are in God's hands, Sir Louis. By so doing you will, at
any rate, give yourself the best chance."

"Best chance? Why, d----n, doctor! there are fellows have done ten
times worse than I; and they are not going to kick. Come, now, I know