depart without leaving a successor, however, and one who bade fair to do
credit to his ancestry. This was Mr. E. Forbes Rollinson, his son, who had
concluded a course of study at Vienna and Paris, and who returned to his
native land with the highest diplomas that continental schools could give
him. He was at this time a young man of about five and twenty, with a
great square head and a short, compact figure. The wild jungle of beard
and the terribly penetrating eye-glass which distinguished him in later
times had not then made their appearance. Well, the new Dr. Rollinson had
known something of Archibald as a boy, and was of course much interested
(apart from his friendly feelings) in so remarkable a case. His theory
upon the matter, in so far as he had formed one, did not on all points
coincide with his father's; he belonged to a somewhat more recent
school--more critical and less dogmatic. Still, it would be hazardous to
assert that young Dr. Rollinson knew exactly what was the matter with
Archibald--especially as he has seen reason to modify his first
impressions more than once during the last fifty years. It is enough to
remark here that he thought the affection was of a rhythmic or regularly
recurrent character, a notion which its previous history went far to
justify; and he consequently looked with interest to see whether the
lapse of another seven years would bring about another change. To have
discovered the orbit, so to speak, of a malady, is not, indeed, to have
explained it; but it is always something. It would be more interesting to
know what Archibald thought of himself; and were I, in this instance, a
novelist dealing with a creation of my own, I might not shrink from an
attempt to analyze his mental state. As it is, I can do no more than point
to the curious field of conjecture which it here afforded: the young man
left no confessions or self-analytic diaries; still less did he discuss
his peculiarities with other people. With excellent good sense and no
small courage, he accepted things as they were; he felt his individuality
in no way diminished by the circumstance that it was intermittent or