t was the first time that such a thing had happened in
Debenham, for the railway was but newly open, and we were all
proportionately moved by the occurrence.

"He's come," said the landlord, after he had filled and lighted his
pipe.

"He?" said I. "Who?--not the doctor?"

"Himself," replied our host.

"What is his name?"

"Doctor Macfarlane," said the landlord.

Fettes was far through his third tumbler, stupidly fuddled, now nodding
over, now staring mazily around him; but at the last word he seemed to
awaken, and repeated the name "Macfarlane" twice, quietly enough the
first time, but with sudden emotion at the second.

"Yes," said the landlord, "that's his name, Doctor Wolfe Macfarlane."

Fettes became instantly sober; his eyes awoke, his voice became clear,
loud, and steady, his language forcible and earnest. We were all
startled by the transformation, as if a man had risen from the dead.

"I beg your pardon," he said, "I am afraid I have not been paying much
attention to your talk. Who is this Wolfe Macfarlane?" And then, when he
had heard the landlord out, "It cannot be, it cannot be," he added; "and
yet I would like well to see him face to face."

"Do you know him, Doctor?" asked the undertaker, with a gasp.

"God forbid!" was the reply. "And yet the name is a strange one; it were
too much to fancy two. Tell me, landlord, is he old?"

"Well," said the host, "he's not a young man, to be sure, and his hair
is white; but he looks younger than you."

"He is older, though; years older. But," with a slap upon the table,
"it's the rum you see in my face--rum and sin. This man, perhaps, may
have an easy conscience and a good digestion. Conscience! Hear me
speak. You would think I was some good, old, decent Christian, would
you not? But no, not I; I never canted. Voltaire might have canted if
he'd stood in my shoes; but the brains"--with a rattling fillip on his
bald head--"the brains were clear and active, and I saw and made no
deductions."

"If you know this doctor," I ventured to remark, after a somewhat awful
pause, "I should gather that you do not share the landlord's good
opinion."

Fettes paid no regard to me.

"Yes," he said, with sudden decision, "I must see him face to face."

There was another pause, and then a door was closed rather sharply on
the first floor, and a step was heard upon the stair.

"That's the doctor," cried the landlord. "Look sharp, and you can catch
him."

It was but