ch, but he was rather pleased with that fact,
although her voice was so sweet and gracious. Speech in a creature like
that was not an essential. It might even be an excrescence upon a
perfection. It did not occur to the dazed mind of her worshipper that
Mrs. Ewing might have very simple and ordinary reasons for not
talking--that she might be tired or ill, or preoccupied. But after a
number of those stolen glances, James discovered with a great pang, as
if one should see for the first time that the arms of the Venus were
really gone, when his fancy had supplied them, that the woman did not
look well. In spite of her beauty, there was ill-health evident in her
face. James was a mere tyro in his profession as yet, but certain
infallible signs were there which he could not mistake. They were the
signs of suffering, possibly of very great suffering. She ate very
little, James noticed, although she made a pretense of eating as much
as any one. James saw that Doctor Gordon also noticed it. When the maid
was taking away Mrs. Ewing's plate, he spoke with a gruffness which
astonished the young man. "For Heaven's sake, why don't you eat your
dinner, Clara?" said he. "Emma, replace Mrs. Ewing's plate. Now, Clara,
eat your dinner." To James's utter astonishment, Mrs. Ewing obeyed like
a child. She ate every morsel, although she could not restrain her
expression of loathing. When the salad and dessert were brought on she
ate them also.

Doctor Gordon watched her with what seemed, to the young man, positive
brutality. His mouth under his heavy beard quivered perceptibly whenever
he looked at his sister eating, his forehead became corrugated, and his
deep-set eyes sparkled. James was heartily glad when dinner was over,
and, at Doctor Gordon's request, he followed him into his office.

Doctor Gordon's office was a small room at the back of the house. It had
an outer door communicating with a path which led to the stable. Two
sides of the room were lined with medical books, and two with bottles
containing diverse colored mixtures. A hanging lamp was over the center
of a long table in the middle of the room. Around it dangled prisms,
which cast rainbow colors over everything. The first thing which struck
one on entering the room was the extraordinary color scheme: the dull
gleams of the books, the medicine bottles which had lights like jewels,
and over all the flickers of prismatic hues. The long table was covered
with corks, empty bottl