red the article,
amiably attributing it to a "young fool who would come to his senses one
day." Young and striving men in the profession rushed into print,--or at
least tried to do so,--with the result that Braden was excoriated by a
thousand pens. Only one of these efforts was worthy of notice, and it
inspired a calm, dispassionate rejoinder from young Thorpe, who merely
called attention to the fact that he was not trying to "make murderers out
of God's commissioners," but was on the other hand advocating a plan by
which they might one day,--a far-off day, no doubt,--extend by Man's law,
the same mercy to the human being that is given to the injured beast.

Anne was shocked one day by a callous observation on the lips of old Dr.
Bates, a sound practitioner and ordinarily as gentle as the average family
doctor one hears so much about. Mr. Thorpe was in greater pain than usual
that day. Opiates were of little use in these cruel hours. It was now
impossible to give him an amount sufficient to produce relief without
endangering the life that hung by so thin a thread.

"I suppose this excellent grandson of his would say that Mr. Thorpe ought
to be killed forthwith, and put out of his misery," said the doctor,
discussing his patient's condition with the young wife in the library
after a long visit upstairs.

Anne started violently. "What do you mean by that, Dr. Bates?" she
inquired, after a moment in which she managed to subdue her agitation.

"Perhaps I shouldn't have said it," apologised the old physician, really
distressed. "I did it quite thoughtlessly, my dear Mrs. Thorpe. I forgot
that you do not read the medical journals."

"Oh, I know what Braden has always preached," she said hurriedly. "But it
never--it never occurred to me that--" She did not complete the sentence. A
ghastly pallor had settled over her face.

"That his theory might find application to the case upstairs?" supplied
the doctor. "Of course it would be unthinkable. Very stupid of me to have
spoken of it."

Anne leaned forward in her chair. "Then you regard Mr. Thorpe's case as
one that might be included in Braden's--" Again she failed to complete a
sentence.

"Yes, Mrs. Thorpe," said Dr. Bates gravely. "If young Braden's pet theory
were in practice now, your husband would be entitled to the mercy he
prescribes."

"He has no chance?"

"Absolutely no chance."

"All there is left for him is to just go on suffering until--until life
wears ou