external trim of his umbrella, perhaps I may be considered to have
contradicted myself. But such was the case. He was a handsome man
too, with clear, bright, gray eyes, a well-defined nose, and
expressive mouth--of which the lips, however, were somewhat too
thin. No man with thin lips ever seems to me to be genially human at
all points.

Such was Mr. Prendergast; and my readers will, I trust, feel for Sir
Thomas, and pity him, in that he was about to place his wounds in
the hands of so ruthless a surgeon. But a surgeon, to be of use,
should be ruthless in one sense. He should have the power of cutting
and cauterizing, of phlebotomy and bone-handling without effect on
his own nerves. This power Mr. Prendergast possessed, and therefore
it may be said that Sir Thomas had chosen his surgeon judiciously.
None of the Castle Richmond family, except Sir Thomas himself, had
ever seen this gentleman, nor had Sir Thomas often come across him
of late years. But he was what we in England call an old family
friend; and I doubt whether we in England have any more valuable
English characteristic than that of having old family friends. Old
family feuds are not common with us now-a-days--not so common as
with some other people. Sons who now hated their father's enemies
would have but a bad chance before a commission of lunacy; but an
old family friend is supposed to stick to one from generation to
generation.

On his arrival at Castle Richmond he was taken in to Sir Thomas
before dinner. "You find me but in a poor state," said Sir Thomas,
shaking in his fear of what was before him, as the poor wretch does
before an iron-wristed dentist who is about to operate. "You will be
better soon," Mr. Prendergast had said, as a man always does say