Kearns, with his stronger vitality and naturally high spirits, was the quicker to recover from the shock. He glanced down at his strong, knotted arm and wrist resting on the table. Even if he had been dead to the world for all these years, even if he was over a century old, his muscles were as strong as ever and the flow of life within him apparently unimpaired. And if a man’s nerves have the courage and his heart beats strong and full as at thirty, what matter how many years have passed over his head! Such was the thought which surged through Kearns’ mind. “A woman is as old as she looks, a man is as old as he feels,” was the inconsequent and frivolous idea which kept jangling through his brain. How strange it is that in the most critical moments of our lives, the incongruous and the odd will persist in obtruding themselves upon our mental perception. From the chaos of emotion the announcement had developed in Kearns, curiosity began to grow. He roused himself and turned to question the Colonel. But the latter proved obdurate. “Not another word will I tell you,” he declared; “not another word until medical advice is at hand. You can understand the loss to the world and to science should anything happen to you at this stage. I’ve sent for the doctor. He’ll be here shortly.” As the Colonel spoke there came a rap on the door and the servant announced the arrival of the Doctor. “Show him in at once,” ordered the Colonel. An instant later a very brisk little man, with red cheeks, black moustache and side whiskers, entered the room. “Doctor Robinson O’Hanlenne,” announced the Colonel, who proceeded to explain briefly the circumstances to the new arrival. From the Colonel’s narrative it appeared that two of his workmen had been felling trees and laying out certain ground in a distant and hitherto unused portion of his estate. While thus engaged they had found the cave with the two inanimate forms carefully wrapped in rugs lying within. The Colonel told graphically the terror of the men as the supposed corpses revived, and their flight when a horse and carriage were demanded by Kearns. “A horse and carriage!” exclaimed the Doctor, with a smile. “Precisely; a horse and carriage!” And both laughed.