ded no interpreter to unfold the true meaning of that letter.
Its unsteady and blotted words and its scrawled, uncertain signature
told her too well of her husband's sad condition. His old enemy had
stricken him down, his old strong, implacable enemy, always armed,
always lying in wait for him, and always ready for the unguarded moment.

CHAPTER XV.

DOCTOR HILLHOUSE was in his office one morning when a gentleman named
Carlton, in whose family he had practiced for two or three years, came
in. This was a few weeks before the party at Mr. Birtwell's.

"Doctor"--there was a troubled look on his visitor's face--"I wish you
would call in to-day and examine a lump on Mrs. Carlton's neck. It's
been coming for two or three months. We thought it only the swelling of
a gland at first, and expected it to go away in a little while. But in
the last few weeks it has grown perceptibly."

"How large is it?" inquired the doctor.

"About the size of a pigeon's egg."

"Indeed! So large?"

"Yes; and I am beginning to feel very much concerned about it."

"Is there any discoloration?"

"No."

"Any soreness or tenderness to the touch?"

"No; but Mrs. Carlton is beginning to feel a sense of tightness and
oppression, as though the lump, whatever it may be, were beginning to
press upon some of the blood-vessels."

"Nothing serious, I imagine," replied Dr. Hillhouse, speaking with a
lightness of manner he did not feel. "I will call about twelve o'clock.
Tell Mrs. Carlton to expect me at that time."

Mr. Carlton made a movement to go, but came back from the door, and
betraying more anxiety of manner than at first, said:

"This may seem a light thing in your eyes, doctor, but I cannot help
feeling troubled. I am afraid of a tumor."

"What is the exact location?" asked Dr. Hillhouse.

"On the side of the neck, a little back from the lower edge of the
right ear."

The doctor did not reply. After a brief silence Mr. Carlton said:

"Do you think it a regular tumor, doctor?"

"It is difficult to say. I can speak with more certainty after I have
made an examination," replied Doctor Hillhouse, his manner showing some
reserve.

"If it should prove to be a tumor, cannot its growth be stopped? Is
there no relief except through an operation--no curative agents that
will restore a healthy action to the parts and cause the tumor to be
absorbed?"

"There is a class of tumors," replied the doctor, "that may be
absorbed, but the