ot near to mine, ordered the woman

away, and said in a subdued voice, ‘Doctor, finding my brother in

this difficulty with these hinds, I recommended that your aid

should be invited. Your reputation is high, and, as a young man

with your fortune to make, you are probably mindful of your

interest. The things that you see here, are things to be seen, and

not spoken of.’

“I listened to the patient’s breathing, and avoided answering.

“‘Do you honour me with your attention, Doctor?’

“‘Monsieur,’ said I, ‘in my profession, the communications of

Charles Dickens ElecBook Classics

patients are always received in confidence.’ I was guarded in my

answer, for I was troubled in my mind with what I had heard and

seen.

“Her breathing was so difficult to trace, that I carefully tried the

pulse and the heart. There was life, and no more. Looking round

as I resumed my seat, I found both the brothers intent upon me.

“I write with so much difficulty, the cold is so severe, I am so

fearful of being detected and consigned to an underground cell

and total darkness, that I must abridge this narrative. There is no

confusion or failure in my memory; it can recall, and could detail,

every word that was ever spoken between me and those brothers.

“She lingered for a week. Towards the last, I could understand

some few syllables that she said to me,