"Yours, &c.,
"JUNIUS H. GRIDLEY."


So that my friend has completely corroborated my account, so far as
the letter was concerned. My account, however, stood in no need of
corroboration, as will presently appear.

When I was stricken down, Alice and Dr. Marsden were the only persons
to whom I had communicated what my uncle had said to me during our walk
from the station. They both maintained silence in the matter, except to
each other. Between themselves, in the early days of my illness, they
discussed it with a good deal of feeling on each side. Alice implicitly
believed my story from first to last. She was wise enough to see that I
had been made acquainted with matters that I could not possibly have
learned through any ordinary channels of communication. In short, she
was not so enamoured of professional jargon as to have lost her common
sense. The doctor, however, with the mole-blindness of many of his
tribe, refused to believe. Nothing of this kind had previously come
within the range of his own experience, and it was therefore
impossible. He accounted for it all upon the hypothesis of my impending
fever. He is not the only physician who mistakes cause for effect, and
_vice versa_.

During the second week of my prostration, Mr. Marcus Weatherley
absconded. This event so totally unlooked for by those who had had
dealings with him, at once brought his financial condition to light. It
was found that he had been really insolvent for several months past.
The day after his departure a number of his acceptances became due.