the Professor,--the pledge for a loan of three
pounds sterling,--a sum so unusually large as to imply that the property
was estimated as of value. It was some time before the weather admitted
of a visit to the spot, but late of a summer's evening, as Alfred
sat musingly on the door-sill of the cottage, Quackinboss was seen
approaching with an old-fashioned writing-desk under his arm, while he
called out, "Here it is; and without knowin' the con-tents, I 'd not
swap the plunder for a raft of timber!"

If the moment of examining the papers was longed for by the impatient
Quackinboss with an almost feverish anxiety, what was his blank
disappointment at finding that, instead of being the smart squibs
or bitter invectives he delighted in, the whole box was devoted to
documents relating to a curious incident in medical jurisprudence, and
was labelled on the inner side of the lid, "Hawke's case, with all the
tests and other papers."

"This seems to have been a great criminal case," said Alfred, "and it
must have deeply interested my father, for he has actually drawn out a
narrative of the whole event, and has even journalized his share in the
story.

"'Strange scene that I have just left,' wrote he, in a clear, exact
hand. 'A man very ill--seriously, dangerously ill--in one room, and
a party--his guests--all deeply engaged at play in the same house. No
apparent anxiety about his case,--scarcely an inquiry; his wife--if
she be his wife, for I have my misgivings about it--eager and feverish,
following me from place to place, with a sort of irresolute effort to
say something which she has no courage for. Patient worse,--the case a
puzzling one; there is more than delirium tremens here. But what more?
that's the question. Remarkable his anxiety about the sense of
burning in the throat; ever asking, "Is that usual? is it invariable?"
Suspicion, of course, to be looked for; but why does it not extend to
_me_ also? Afraid to drink, though his thirst is excruciating.
Symptoms all worse; pulse irregular; desires to see me alone; his wife,
unwilling, tries by many pretexts to remain; he seems to detect her
plan, and bursts into violent passion, swears at her, and cries out,
"Ain't you satisfied? Don't you see that I 'm dying?"'

"'We have been alone for above an hour. He has told me all; she is not
his wife, but the divorced wife of a well-known man in office. Believes
she intended to leave him; knows, or fancies he knows, her whol