ill!" groaned Ishmael.

"Where? where?"

"Everywhere!"

The judge rushed to the table and poured out a glass of brandy and
brought it to him.

But the young man, who was habitually and totally abstinent, shook his
head.

"Drink it! drink it!" said the judge, offering the glass.

But Ishmael silently waved it off.

"As a medicine, you foolish fellow--as a medicine! You are sinking,
don't you know!" persisted the judge, forcing the glass into Ishmael's
hand.

Ishmael then placed it to his lips and swallowed its contents.

The effect of this draught upon him, unaccustomed as he was to alcoholic
stimulants, was instantaneous. The brandy diffused itself through his
chilled, sinking, and dying frame, warming, elevating, and restoring its
powers.

"This is the fabled 'elixir of life.' I did not believe there was such a
restorative in the world!" said Ishmael, sitting up and breathing freely
under the transient exhilaration.

"To be sure it is, my boy!" said the judge heartily, as he took the
empty glass from Ishmael's hand and replaced it on the waiter. "But what
have you been doing to reduce yourself to this state? Sitting up all
night over some perplexing case, as likely as not."

"No."

"But I am sure you overwork yourself. You should not do it, Ishmael! It
is absurd to kill yourself for a living, you know."

"I think, Judge Merlin, that, as you are so soon about to leave
Washington, and as there is so little to do in your office, I should be
grateful if you would at once release me from our engagement and permit
me to leave your employment," said Ishmael, who felt that it would be to
him the most dreadful trial to remain in the house and meet Claudia and
Vincent as betrothed lovers every day, and at last witness their
marriage.

The judge looked annoyed and then asked:

"Now, Ishmael, why do you wish to leave me before the expiration of the
term for which you were engaged?"

And before Ishmael could answer that question, he continued:

"You are in error as to the reasons you assign. In the first place, I am
not to leave Washington so soon as I expected; as it is arranged that we
shall remain here for the solemnization of the marriage, which will not
take place until the first of July. And in the second place, instead of
there being but little to do in the office, there will be a great deal
to do--all Claudia's estate to be arranged, the viscount's affairs to be
examined, marriage settlements to be