d a more suitable place so
far as rest and quiet were concerned. The season had early given such
little promise that several men of the Point betook themselves
elsewhere; and the aged visitor had two or three vacant cabins from
among which to select a dwelling-place. He chose to occupy the most
remote of all, which Carmen furnished for him with a cool moss bed and
some necessary furniture,--including a big wooden rocking-chair. It
seemed to him very comfortable thus. He took his meals with the
family, spent most of the day in his own quarters, spoke very little,
and lived so unobtrusively and inconspicuously that his presence in the
settlement was felt scarcely more than that of some dumb
creature,--some domestic animal,--some humble pet whose relation to the
family is only fully comprehended after it has failed to appear for
several days in its accustomed place of patient waiting,--and we know
that it is dead.

IV.

Persistently and furiously, at half-past two o'clock of an August
morning, Sparicio rang Dr. La Brierre's night-bell. He had fifty
dollars in his pocket, and a letter to deliver. He was to earn another
fifty dollars--deposited in Feliu's hands,--by bringing the Doctor to
Viosca's Point. He had risked his life for that money,--and was
terribly in earnest.

Julien descended in his under-clothing, and opened the letter by the
light of the hall lamp. It enclosed a check for a larger fee than he
had ever before received, and contained an urgent request that he would
at once accompany Sparicio to Viosca's Point,--as the sender was in
hourly danger of death. The letter, penned in a long, quavering hand,
was signed,--"Henry Edwards."

His father's dear old friend! Julien could not refuse to go,--though
he feared it was a hopeless case. Angina pectoris,--and a third attack
at seventy years of age! Would it even be possible to reach the
sufferer's bedside in time? "Due giorno,--con vento,"--said Sparicio.
Still, he must go; and at once. It was Friday morning;--might reach
the Point Saturday night, with a good wind ... He roused his
housekeeper, gave all needful instructions, prepared his little
medicine-chest;--and long before the first rose-gold fire of day had
flashed to the city spires, he was sleeping the sleep of exhaustion in
the tiny cabin of a fishing-sloop.

... For eleven years Julien had devoted himself, heart and soul, to the
exercise of that profession he had first studied rather as