Rex gave a bark of welcome and raced beside the
wheels.

"Keep still, old dog! Down, Rex! Been
lonely, old fellow?"

The dog in answer leaped in the air as his master
drew rein, and with eager springs tried to reach his
hands, barking all the while in short and joyful
yelps.

Doctor John threw the lines across the dash-board,
jumped from the gig, and pushing open the hall
door--it was never locked--stepped quickly into his
office, and turning up the lamp, threw himself into
a chair at his desk. The sorrel made no attempt to
go to the stable--both horse and man were accustomed
to delays--sometimes of long hours and sometimes
of whole nights.

The appointments and fittings of the office--old-
fashioned and practical as they were--reflected in
a marked degree the aims and tastes of the occupant.
While low bookcases stood against the walls surmounted
by rows of test-tubes, mortars and pestles,
cases of instruments, and a line of bottles labelled
with names of various mixtures (in those days doctors
were chemists as well as physicians), there could
also be found a bust of the young Augustus; one or
two lithographs of Heidelberg, where he had studied;