expect"-- But the Doctor interrupted.

"Come, now, none of that! You and your wife are brave; I must say that
for you. She has the courage of a gladiator. You can do this if you
will."

"Doctor," said Richling, "you are the best of friends; but, you know,
the fact is, Mary and I--well, we're still lovers."

"Oh!" The Doctor turned away his head with fresh impatience. Richling
bit his lip, but went on:--

"We can bear anything on earth together; but we have sworn to stay
together through better and worse"--

"Oh, pf-f-f-f!" said the doctor, closing his eyes and swinging his head
away again.

"--And we're going to do it," concluded Richling.

"But you can't do it!" cried the Doctor, so loudly that Narcisse stood
up on the rungs of his stool and peered.

"We can't separate."

Dr. Sevier smote the desk and sprang to his feet:--

"Sir, you've got to do it! If you continue in this way, you'll die.
You'll die, Mr. Richling--both of you! You'll die! Are you going to let
Mary die just because she's brave enough to do it?" He sat down again
and busied himself, nervously placing pens on the pen-rack, the stopper
in the inkstand, and the like.

Many thoughts ran through Richling's mind in the ensuing silence.
His eyes were on the floor. Visions of parting; of the great
emptiness that would be left behind; the pangs and yearnings that
must follow,--crowded one upon another. One torturing realization
kept ever in the front,--that the Doctor had a well-earned right to
advise, and that, if his advice was to be rejected, one must show good
and sufficient cause for rejecting it, both in present resources and
in expectations. The truth leaped upon him and bore him down as it never
had done before,--the truth which he had heard this very Dr. Sevier
proclaim,--that debt is bondage. For a moment he rebelled against it;
but shame soon displaced mutiny, and he accepted this part, also, of
his lot. At length he rose.

"Well?" said Dr. Sevier.

"May I ask Mary?"

"You will do what you please, Mr. Richling." And then, in a kinder
voice, the Doctor added, "Yes; ask her."

They moved together to the office door. The Doctor opened it, and they
said good-by, Richling trying to drop a word of gratitude, and the
Doctor hurriedly ignoring it.

The next half hour or more was spent by the physician in receiving,
hearing, and dismissing patients and their messengers. By and by no
others came. The only audible sound was that of the Do