yet have not called to see me." In reply I frankly confessed that I
avoided upon principle the members of his branch of the surgical
profession.

His subtle magnetism would soon have dispelled all feeling of repulsion;
and before I was conscious of the degree of confidence he inspired, I
found myself almost persuaded to accept his cordial invitation to tea. The
only barrier I could interpose was want of acquaintance with his wife, and
that obstacle was soon removed. We found her a most intelligent and
charming person, and her mother, Mrs. Reeves, who was present, a
dignified, stately English lady of "the old regime."

In a few moments after our meeting all her reserve vanished, and she
impulsively and almost tearfully drew near. She told in trembling tones of
a blind sister who had passed away some time before, and while she had
come in contact with so many who had resorted to her son-in-law for
treatment, she had never before met one who resembled her sister, while
in me she seemed to have found her counterpart.

This became at once a bond between us, and throwing off all her usual
reserve, she insisted upon having us leave the hotel and spend the
remainder of the time of our stay with her. So pronounced was her
character and so peremptory her demand, there was no room for refusal, and
when in a succeeding conversation with her son I expressed some
compunction at our stay, I was at once silenced by the remark that his
mother was a woman of marked idiosyncracies, and when she so distinguished
an individual as to make them a guest the decision was final, and I must
not wound her by an expression of possible impropriety. It is needless to
say I left this family with deep regret, carrying letters from Doctor
Roseborough; and in my visits to the various places en route to Montreal I