enough, to be disobedient. In those stormy days of the trial she told
Dr Thorne, that perhaps it would be wise that they should not see each
other any more.

Dr Thorne, so counselled, at such a moment,--so informed then, when he
most required comfort from his love, at once swore loudly that he
agreed with her. He rushed forth with a bursting heart, and said to
himself that the world was bad, all bad. He saw the lady no more; and,
if I am rightly informed, never again made matrimonial overtures to any
one.



CHAPTER III

DR THORNE

And thus Dr Thorne became settled for life in the little village of
Greshamsbury. As was then the wont with many country practitioners,
and as should be the wont with them all if they consulted their own
dignity a little less and the comforts of their customers somewhat
more, he added the business of a dispensing apothecary to that of a
physician. In doing so, he was of course much reviled. Many people
around him declared that he could not truly be a doctor, or, at any
rate, a doctor to be so called; and his brethren in the art living
round him, though they knew that his diplomas, degrees, and
certificates were all en regle, rather countenanced the report. There
was much about this new-comer which did not endear him to his own
profession. In the first place he was a new-comer, and, as such, was
of course to be regarded by other doctors as being de trop.