started afresh, aided only by certain fixed habits; for instance, he
could read and write: but, strange as it may appear, he had no idea who
he was; and when his memory cleared a little on that head, he thought
his surname was Christie, but he was not sure.

Nevertheless, the presiding physician discovered in him a certain
progress of intelligence, which gave him great hopes. In the fifth
month, having shown a marked interest in the other sick patients,
coupled with a disposition to be careful and attentive, they made him a
nurse, or rather a sub-nurse under the special orders of a responsible
nurse. I really believe it was done at first to avoid the alternative
of sending him adrift, or transferring him to the insane ward of the
hospital. In this congenial pursuit he showed such watchfulness and
skill, that by and by they found they had got a treasure. Two months
after that he began to talk about medicine, and astonished them still
more. He became the puzzle of the establishment. The doctor and surgeon
would converse with him, and try and lead him to his past life; but when
it came to that, he used to put his hands to his head with a face of
great distress, and it was clear some impassable barrier lay between
his growing intelligence and the past events of his life. Indeed, on
one occasion, he said to his kind friend the doctor, "The past!--a black
wall! a black wall!"

Ten months after his admission he was promoted to be an attendant, with
a salary.

He put by every shilling of it; for he said, "A voice from the dark past
tells me money is everything in this world."

A discussion was held by the authorities as to whether he should be