undertake this work?"

"Quite ready, sir."

"Then come round here at eight in the morning. I shall have heard by
that hour from the examiners of this parish of any fresh case they
have found. They begin their rounds at five o'clock."

The next day Cyril presented himself at the doctor's, dressed in
black, with white ruffles to his shirt, and a flowing wig he had
purchased the night before.

"Here are the cane and snuff-box," Dr. Hodges said. "Now you will
pass muster very well as my assistant. Let us be off at once; for I
have a long list of cases."

Cyril remained outside while Dr. Hodges went into three or four
houses. Presently he came down to the door, and said to him,--

"This is a case where things are favourable for a first trial. It is
a boy who is taken ill, and the parents, though in deep grief, seem
to have some sense left."

He turned to the watchman, who had already been placed at the door.
The man, who evidently knew him, had saluted respectfully when he
entered the house.

"This gentleman is my assistant," he said, "and you will allow him to
pass in and out just as you would myself. He is going to take this
case entirely in hand, and you will regard him as being in charge