d your tongues," said he. "That man Macfarlane is
not safe to cross; those that have done so already have repented it too
late."

And then, without so much as finishing his third glass, far less waiting
for the other two, he bade us good-bye and went forth, under the lamp of
the hotel, into the black night.

We three turned to our places in the parlour, with the big red fire and
four clear candles; and as we recapitulated what had passed, the first
chill of our surprise soon changed into a glow of curiosity. We sat
late; it was the latest session I have known in the old George. Each
man, before we parted, had his theory that he was bound to prove; and
none of us had any nearer business in this world than to track out the
past of our condemned companion, and surprise the secret that he shared
with the great London doctor. It is no great boast, but I believe I was
a better hand at worming out a story than either of my fellows at the
George; and perhaps there is now no other man alive who could narrate to
you the following foul and unnatural events.

In his young days Fettes studied medicine in the schools of Edinburgh.
He had talent of a kind, the talent that picks up swiftly what it hears
and readily retails it for its own. He worked little at home; but he was
civil, attentive, and intelligent in the presence of his masters. They
soon picked him out as a lad who listened closely and remembered well;
nay, strange as it seemed to me when I first heard it, he was in those
days well favoured, and pleased by his exterior. There was, at that
period, a certain extramural teacher of anatomy, whom I shall here
designate by the letter K. His name was subsequently too well known. The
man who bore it skulked through the streets of Edinburgh in disguise,
while the mob that applauded at the execution of Burke called loudly for
the blood of his employer. But Mr. K---- was then at the top of his
vogue; he enjoyed a popularity due partly to his own talent and address,
partly to the incapacity of his rival, the university professor. The
students, at least, swore by his name, and Fettes believed himself, and
was believed by others, to have laid the foundations of success when he
acquired the favour of this meteorically famous man. Mr. K---- was a
_bon vivant_ as well as an accomplished teacher; he liked a sly illusion
no less than a careful preparation. In both capacities Fettes enjoyed
and deserved his notice, and by the second year of