ot.

Some time afterward, however, she said, "Whom shall I ask to meet Dr.
Suaby?"

"Nobody, for Heaven's sake!"

"Will not that be dull for him?"

"I hope not."

"You will have plenty to say to him, eh, darling?"

"We never yet lacked topics. Whether or no, his is a mind I choose to
drink neat."

"Drink him neat?"

"Undiluted with rural minds."

"Oh!"

She uttered that monosyllable very dryly, and said no more.

Dr. Suaby came next day, and dined with them, and Lady Bassett was
charming; but rather earlier than usual she said, "Now I am sure you
and Dr. Suaby must have many things to talk about," and retired,
casting back an arch, and almost a cunning smile.

The door closed on her, the smile fled, and a somber look of care and
suffering took its place.

Sir Charles entered at once on what was next his heart, told Dr. Suaby
he was in some anxiety, and asked him if he had observed anything in
Lady Bassett.

"Nothing new," said Dr. Suaby; "charming as ever."

Then Sir Charles confided to Dr. Suaby, in terms of deep feeling and
anxiety, what I have coldly told the reader.

Dr. Suaby looked a little grave, and took time to think before he
spoke.

At last he delivered an opinion, of which this is the substance, though
not the exact words.

"It is sudden and unnatural, and I cannot say it does not partake of
mental aberration. If the patient was a man I should fear the most
serious results; but here we have to take into account the patient's
sex, her nature, and her present condition. Lady Bassett has always
appeared to me a very remarkable woman. She has no mediocrity in
anything; understanding keen, perception wonderfully swift, heart large
and sensitive, nerves high strung, sensibilities acute. A person of her
sex, tuned so high as this, is always subject, more or less, to
hysteria. It is controlled by her intelligence and spirit; but she is
now, for the time being, in a physical condition that has often
deranged less sensitive women than she is. I believe this about the boy
to be a hysterical delusion, which will pass away when her next child
is born. That is to say, she will probably ignore her first-born, and
everything else, for a time; but these caprices, springing in reality
from the body rather than the mind, cannot endure forever. When she has
several grown-up children the first-born will be the favorite. It comes
to that at last, my good friend."

"These are the words of wisdom," said