More than this,--it is my duty to warn you that your tenure on earth is
very precarious; you may attain to many years; you may be suddenly called
hence tomorrow. The best mode to regard this uncertainty with the calm in
which is your only chance of long life, is so to arrange all your worldly
affairs, and so to discipline all your human anxieties, as to feel always
prepared for the summons that may come without warning. For the rest,
quit this climate as soon as you can,--it is the climate in which the
blood courses too quickly for one who should shun all excitement. Seek
the most equable atmosphere, choose the most tranquil pursuits; and
Fenwick himself, in his magnificent pride of stature and strength, may be
nearer the grave than you are."

"Your opinion coincides with that I have just heard?" asked Margrave,
turning to me.

"In much--yes."

"It is more favourable than I should have supposed. I am far from
disdaining the advice so kindly offered. Permit me, in turn, two or three
questions, Dr. Faber. Do you prescribe to me no drugs from your
pharmacopoeia?"

"Drugs may palliate many sufferings incidental to organic disease, but
drugs cannot reach organic disease itself."

"Do you believe that, even where disease is plainly organic, Nature
herself has no alternative and reparative powers, by which the organ
assailed may recover itself?"

"A few exceptional instances of such forces in Nature are upon record; but