alone was out of the question. I wrote to his one other old
friend besides myself--the friend who had taken him on a cruise
in the Mediterranean.

The owner of the yacht had that very day given directions to have
his vessel laid up for the winter season. He at once
countermanded the order by telegraph. "I am an idle man," he
said, "and I am as fond of Rothsay as you are. I will take him
wherever he likes to go." It was not easy to persuade the object
of these kind intentions to profit by them. Nothing that I could
say roused him. I spoke to him of his picture. He had left it at
my uncle's house, and neither knew nor cared to know whether it
had been sold or not. The one consideration which ultimately
influenced Rothsay was presented by the doctor; speaking as
follows (to quote his own explanation) in the interests of my
health:

"I warned your friend," he said, "that his conduct was causing
anxiety which you were not strong enough to bear. On hearing this
he at once promised to follow the advice which you had given to
him, and to join the yacht. As you know, he has kept his word.
May I ask if he has ever followed the medical profession?"

Replying in the negative, I begged the doctor to tell me why he
had put his question.

He answered, "Mr. Rothsay requested me to tell him all that I
knew about your illness. I complied, of course; mentioning that I
had lately adopted a new method of treatment, and that I had
every reason to feel confident of the results. He was so