"I have made a bad enemy," I thought to myself; "well, I am in the
right; one must take risks in life, and it is better to be hated than
despised."

Major Selby was a well-known and popular man, whose sudden death had
excited much sympathy and local interest, which were intensified when
the circumstances connected with it became public property.

On the following day the leading city paper published a report of the
results of the _post-mortem_, which doubtless had been furnished by the
relatives, and with it an editorial note.

In this paragraph I was spoken of in very complimentary terms; my
medical distinctions were alluded to, and the confident belief was
expressed that Dunchester would not be slow to avail itself of my skill
and talent. Sir John Bell was not so lightly handled. His gross error of
treatment in the case of the deceased was, it is true, slurred over, but
some sarcastic and disparaging remarks were aimed at him under cover of
comparison between the old and the new school of medical practitioners.



CHAPTER IV

STEPHEN STRONG GOES BAIL

Great are the uses of advertisement! When I went into my consulting-room
after breakfast that day I found three patients waiting to see me, one
of them a member of a leading family in the city.