"That was because he didn't want to remember," said the doctor,
authoritatively. "The brain is acting on some impression that is
either painful and unpleasant, or so vague that he can't formulate
it; he is conscious of it, and won't attempt it yet. It's a heap
better than his old self-satisfied incoherency."

A few days later, when the fact of Slinn's identification with the
paralytic of three years ago by the stage-driver became generally
known, the doctor came in quite jubilant.

"It's all plain now," he said, decidedly. "That second stroke was
caused by the nervous shock of his coming suddenly upon the very
spot where he had the first one. It proved that his brain still
retained old impressions, but as this first act of his memory was a
painful one, the strain was too great. It was mighty unlucky; but
it was a good sign."

"And you think, then--" hesitated Harry Slinn.

"I think," said Dr. Duchesne, "that this activity still exists, and
the proof of it, as I said before, is that he is trying now to
forget it, and avoid thinking of it. You will find that he will
fight shy of any allusion to it, and will be cunning enough to
dodge it every time."

He certainly did. Whether the doctor's hypothesis was fairly based
or not, it was a fact that, when he was first taken out to drive
with his watchful physician, he apparently took no notice of the
boulder--which still remained on the roadside, thanks to the later