"`But you have not drunk that, dear,' said Mrs Ross gently, as she returned to her seat at the breakfast-table. "`Haven't I?' said her husband absently. `Oh! no, of course not. But, there; I don't want any breakfast, this constant anxiety frets away appetite.' "`But you will have something for that case last night, love? You were there from twelve till five.' "Mr Ross smiled, as he replied, `Yes, I shall have something--thanks, and blessings, and that sort of payment. The people were too poor to go to old Tomkins--too proud to go to the union--so they came to me, and of course I went. That was right, was it not?' "`Of course, love,' replied Mrs Ross. `How could you stay away, when you had it in your power to do good to a fellow-creature? But will the man live, do you think?' "Mr Ross shook his head. `I'm afraid not. He may linger on for months; but the foundation has been sapped by excess.' "`God help his poor family,' murmured Mrs Ross, and then she rose and crossed the room to where her husband was irritably walking up and down before the window. The breakfast, with its thin tea and rank butter, lay untasted still, and a child-like little servant-girl appearing at the door, Mrs Ross gave her a nod, and the untouched meal was removed. "Once more alone, that anxious wife softly stole one little hand beneath her husband's arm, and creeping closer and closer, walked with him up and down the worn drugget, till he stopped short as if gazing from the window, but really looking inward at his own position, his wife refraining from speaking a word, as she anxiously watched the working of his countenance. "For the Ross folks, as people in Elmouth called them were in sad straits. Some two years before, with a little money in hand, John Ross had come to settle with his young wife in the pleasant seaside town, having made his calculations that he would get no practice as the new doctor for the first year--at least none to signify--but that he could furnish his house quietly, and live decently for that first year; while what little he did earn would go to his remaining stock of cash, and add to what he gained during the second year, which he hoped would be something, if not considerable, at least enough to enable them to what he called `rub along.'