and knowledge to confuse and pervert the
minds of the ignorant. And yet I am not altogether responsible for these
sins, which in truth in the first place were forced upon me by shame and
want and afterwards by the necessities of my ambition. Indeed, in that
dark and desperate road of deceit there is no room to turn; the step
once taken can never be retraced.

But if I have sinned, how much greater is the crime of the man who swore
away my honour and forced me through those gateways? Surely on his head
and not on mine should rest the burden of my deeds; yet he prospered all
his life, and I have been told that his death was happy and painless.
This man's career furnishes one of the few arguments that to my
sceptical mind suggest the existence of a place of future reward and
punishment, for how is it possible that so great a villain should reap
no fruit from his rich sowing of villainy? If it is possible, then
verily this world is the real hell wherein the wicked are lords and the
good their helpless and hopeless slaves.

Emma Becker when she became my wife brought with her a small dowry of
about five thousand dollars, or a thousand pounds, and this sum we both
agreed would be best spent in starting me in professional life. It was
scarcely sufficient to enable me to buy a practice of the class which
I desired, so I determined that I would set to work to build one up, as
with my ability and record I was certain that I could do. By preference,
I should have wished to begin in London, but there the avenue to success
is choked, and I had not the means to wait until by skill and hard work
I could force my way along it.

London being out of the question, I made up my mind to try my fortune
in the ancient city of Dunchester, where the name of Therne was still
remembered, as my grandfather and father had practised there before
me. I journeyed to the place and made inquiries, to find that, although
there were plenty of medical men of a sort, there was only one whose
competition I had cause to fear. Of the others, some had no presence,
some no skill, and some no character; indeed, one of them was known to
drink.

With Sir John Bell, whose good fortune it was to be knighted in
recognition of his attendance upon a royal duchess who chanced to
contract the measles while staying in the town, the case was different.
He began life as assistant to my father, and when his health failed
purchased the practice from him for a miserable