Mr Cleave turned over the pages of _The Total Abstainer_ with evident relish. "The worst," he said, in a high, thin voice, "is one that our commissioner only heard by unexpected good fortune. He does not often go westwards. He finds that Bow Street and Whitechapel bring more grist----" "Read it out!" shouted Miss Bird. "A piteous example of what over-indulgence in alcohol may bring a man to (read Mr Cleave) was afforded by a case which came before our notice one day last week in the Kensington Police Court. The degraded being, who faced the magistrate with an unabashed gaze, was a young doctor named Mortimer, who gave as his address a place of mercy and healing--the Hospital of St Matthew." "By George!" exclaimed Jim, "that’s how our local rag got hold of it! Copied it out of your paper." "Pardon?" observed Mr Cleave. "Go on!" roared Miss Bird. "The facts were few but terrible (continued Mr Cleave). This member of a noble calling, inflamed and rendered reckless of all consequences by the Bend aforesaid, actually made a ferocious onslaught on a band of six policemen. In a fair pleasure garden he let loose his unruly passions, and only after a terrific struggle was he captured, handcuffed, and thrust into a cell----" "They locked you up, then?" inquired Jefferson, glancing maliciously at Jim. "Not they," said Jim; "I was let out on bail." Miss Bird turned sharply round and glared into Jim’s face. "Are _you_ the person referred to in that report?" she demanded. "I am," said Jim. A silence fell on the room. Even the dim-of-hearing Mr Cleave appreciated the situation, and understood that the lately arrived Dr Mortimer was identical with the prime villain of the "Pillory" that week. "Pray continue, Mr Cleave," said Jefferson at length, with a curl of his lip; "I am sure Dr Mortimer does not mind." Mr Cleave was bending over the paper again, when an interruption came from an unthought-of quarter. Mr Maybury rose to his feet. "I do not think," he said, "that Mr Cleave had better proceed with his reading." "Nonsense!" said Jefferson. "Go ahead, Mr Cleave." "For the sake of the Cause, Mr Maybury," piped Cleave, "I wish to----" "I am master of this house," said the ruined manufacturer, who, generally so mild and retiring, now spoke with unfaltering firmness, "and I say that no man shall be insulted to his face under my roof. You will oblige me, Mr Cleave, by not reading another word of that report. Frank, go and see if dinner is ready." *CHAPTER X.* *AT THE SURGERY.*