THE DOCTOR'S DIAGNOSIS. ON going to dinner, Marion was not much surprised to hear that the pastor had requested to be excused from the table on the plea of a headache. Mrs. Asbury was preparing tea and toast, which the servant stood waiting to take up on a tray. At this moment Ethel came running up, her face flushed, exclaiming,— "Mamma, may I stay with Mr. Angus? He is sitting in the chair with his eyes shut, and he looks real sick." "I'll carry the tray myself," said Mrs. Asbury, glancing at her husband. "No, Ethel, stay here till I come back." "He is worse than usual," she explained presently, as she brought back the food untouched. "Ethel, dear, as soon as you have eaten, you may go to him. Strange what an influence she has,"—turning to the family. "He asked it as a favor, if I could spare her." Mr. and Mrs. Asbury were so occupied with anxiety about Mr. Angus, whose strength seemed always on the point of giving way, that they did not notice Marion's abstraction. As they were rising from the silent meal, she asked,— "Can I have the horse and buggy, uncle? I want to drive to N—. I am going for Dr. Moore to see Mary Falkner." "Why not ask him to make a professional call on Mr. Angus?" "You might propose it to him, but I doubt whether he would require a surgeon." "That's so; but I mean to have a serious talk with him as soon as he recovers from this attack. It is wicked for him to neglect these warnings." Annie eagerly offered to accompany Marion to N—; but she only desired to be alone to have time to recall fleeting memories, to reconcile coincidences, and decide how it was best for her to make her surmises known to Mr. Angus. She had driven slowly over the four miles to N— before her final decision was reached. It would be cruel to hold out hopes which might prove fallacious. "No, I must go home, to make sure. Then, if it be as I hope and believe what a joy." Marion stopped, wholly unable to express in words the deep emotions which agitated her. All the time she was tying her horse to the post, she was saying to herself,— "Did she mean murder? An accident is not murder." It was with a real effort that she roused herself to tell the physician her errand. He had just returned from a long drive to visit a patient, and told her he would accompany her at once after eating his dinner, and return in the cars. On the way Marion related all that she knew of Mary's case, and then described the arrangements at the Home for the Sick. Her enthusiasm made him laugh. "I know all about that," he explained. "I was one of the staff of house surgeons there at one time, and I can say it is truly a home. Very few, even of the wealthiest, can command the care and skill which falls to the lot of the poorest patient there. I remember a wealthy lady coming with a valuable servant who had fractured her arm. When the patient was comfortably placed in bed she was leaving the room, when she met Dr. B-, the pastor and superintendent.