the patient's sheets, and wherever he went left horrid marks of his
whereabouts: he was very fond of good eating and much drinking, and
would neglect the best customer that ever was sick, when tempted by the
fascination of a game of loo. He was certainly a bad family-man; for
though he worked hard for the support of his wife and children, he
was little among them, paid them no attention, and felt no scruple in
assuring Mrs C. that he had been obliged to remain up all night with
that dreadful Mrs Jones, whose children were always so tedious; or that
Mr Blake was so bad after his accident that he could not leave him for
a moment; when, to tell the truth, the Doctor had passed the night with
the cards in his hands, and a tumbler of punch beside him.

He was a tall, thick-set, heavy man, with short black curly hair; was a
little bald at the top of his head; and looked always as though he had
shaved himself the day before yesterday, and had not washed since. His
face was good-natured, but heavy and unintellectual. He was ignorant of
everything but his profession, and the odds on the card-table or the
race-course. But to give him his due, on these subjects he was not
ignorant; and this was now so generally known that, in dangerous cases,
Doctor Colligan had been sent for, many, many miles.

This was the man who attended poor Anty in her illness, and he did
as much for her as could be done; but it was a bad case, and Doctor
Colligan thought it would be fatal. She had intermittent fever, and
was occasionally delirious; but it was her great debility between the
attacks which he considered so dangerous.

On the morning after the hunt, he told Martin that he greatly feared
she would go off, from exhaustion, in a few days, and that it would be
wise to let Barry know the state in which his sister was. There was a