as we always were."

Then she purred to him on every possible topic but the one that now
filled his parental heart, and bade him good-night at last with a
cheerful smile.

Wyman was exact, and ten minutes afterwards Dr. Snell drove up in a
carriage and pair. He was intercepted in the hall by Wyman, and, after a
few minutes' conversation, presented to Mr. Lusignan.

The father gave vent to his paternal anxiety in a few simple but
touching words, and was proceeding to state the symptoms as he had
gathered them from his daughter; but Dr. Snell interrupted him politely,
and said he had heard the principal symptoms from Mr. Wyman. Then,
turning to the latter, he said, "We had better proceed to examine the
patient."

"Certainly," said Mr. Lusignan. "She is in the drawing-room;" and he led
the way, and was about to enter the room, when Wyman informed him it was
against etiquette for him to be present at the examination.

"Oh, very well!" said he. "Yes, I see the propriety of that. But oblige
me by asking her if she has anything on her mind."

Dr. Snell bowed a lofty assent; for, to receive a hint from a layman was
to confer a favor on him.

The men of science were closeted full half an hour with the patient. She
was too beautiful to be slurred over, even by a busy doctor: he felt her
pulse, looked at her tongue, and listened attentively to her lungs, to