ron lay
perfectly insensible, only uttering a low moan now and then, as if he
felt pain when touched; otherwise he lay quite calmly, as if asleep.

"And as the doctor busied himself he asked no questions; but, as if he
were influenced by my thoughts as I stood by him, watching him and
waiting to give him a garbled--there, a lying--version of the incident,
he at last took the very view as I wished to convey it to him by words.

"`A bad case, sir,' he said at last. `I can do no more now. The bullet
is evidently deeply imbedded. I will not take the risk of probing for
it. Shall I get one of our eminent specialists in consultation?'

"I shook my head.

"`Fatal?' I said at last.

"He shrugged his shoulders.

"`Must speak plainly, sir,' he said. `It is of no use to talk of hope
to a man when one feels that there can be none. Poor fellow, his face
tells the tale plainly enough. Drink. Stimulus after stimulus till the
brandy, or whatever it is, ceases to have its effect. I knew one poor
fellow who used to heat brandy over a spirit lamp to make its effect
more rapid. Yes, ceases to have its effect, and more is used. Then the
digestive powers break down, the over-goaded brain leaps from its
bounds, and we have the delirium that ends in men feeling that life is
not worth living, and makes them suicidal like this.'"

"You remember the very words?" said Stratton, looking at his friend
wonderingly.

"Word for word," said Brettison slowly, "and always shall. I remember,
too, the thrill of horror that ran through my nerves as he stood for a
few moments with his back to me, between me and the bed, bending first
over his patient, and then straightening himself up and raising one
arm--his right--with the fist clenched, all but the index finger, which
he passed over his shoulder to touch, with the point of the finger, the
spot behind his own ear where the bullet had entered.

"For a few moments I did not understand his gesture; then I grasped the
fact, and followed his thoughts. He was, in imagination, holding a
pistol to his head as he thought his patient must have held it when the
trigger was drawn. He had completely taken my view that I wished to
impart, and he was thinking of the inquest and the evidence he would
have to give."

Stratton looked at him for a few moments with dilated eyes.

At last he spoke, for Brettison had become wrapped in thought, and sat
gazing before him, as if seeing the whole horror o