“He answered with great contempt, ‘No.’

“‘She has some recent association with the number twelve?’

“The younger brother impatiently rejoined, ‘With twelve

o’clock.’

“‘See, gentlemen,’ said I, still keeping my hands upon her

breast, ‘how useless I am, as you have brought me! If I had known

what I was coming to see, I could have come provided. As it is,

time must be lost. There are no medicines to be obtained in this

lonely place.’

“The elder brother looked to the younger, who said haughtily,

‘There is a case of medicines here’; and brought it from a closet,

and put it on the table.

“I opened some of the bottles, smelt them, and put the stoppers

to my lips. If I had wanted to use anything save narcotic medicines

that were poisons in themselves, I would not have administered

any of those.

“‘Do you doubt them?’ asked the younger brother.

“‘You see, monsieur, I am going to use them,’ I replied, and said

no more.

“I made the patient swallow, with great difficulty, and after

many efforts, the dose that I desired to give. As I intended to

repeat it after a while, and as it was necessary to watch its

influence, I then sat down by the side of the bed. There was a

Charles Dickens ElecBook Classics

timid and suppressed woman in attendance (wife of the man

down-stairs), who had retreated into a corner. The house