"Not as free from a scrofulous tendency as I should like."

"Then this tumor, if it should really prove to be one, may be of a
malignant character."

"That is possible. But I trust to find only a simple cyst, or, at
the worst, an adipose or fibrous tumor easy of removal, though I am
sorry it is in the neck. I never like to cut in among the large
blood-vessels and tendons of that region."

At twelve o'clock Doctor Hillhouse made the promised visit. He found
Mrs. Carlton to all appearance quiet and cheerful.

"My husband is apt to worry himself when anything ails me," she
said, with a faint smile.

The doctor took her hand and felt a low tremor of the nerves that
betrayed the nervous anxiety she was trying hard to conceal. His
first diagnosis was not satisfactory, and he was not able wholly to
conceal his doubts from the keen observation of Mr. Carlton, whose
eyes never turned for a moment from the doctor's face. The swelling
was clearly outlined, but neither sharp nor protuberant. From the
manner of its presentation, and also from the fact that Mrs. Carlton
complained of a feeling of pressure on the vessels of the neck, the
doctor feared the tumor was larger and more deeply seated than the
lady's friends had suspected. But he was most concerned as to its
true character. Being hard and nodulated, he feared that it might
prove to be of a malignant type, and his apprehensions were
increased by the fact that his patient had in her constitution a
taint of scrofula. There was no apparent congestion of the veins nor