Alec, of course, had his despairing moods, moods in which there seemed no brightness for him, nor any possibility of comfort, in heaven or on earth; and as the imprisonment began to tell more and more upon his health these periods became more frequent and more prolonged. It was not surprising, indeed, that sometimes a deep melancholy seized him, as it were in a grasp of iron. He was sitting in his cell one day, holding a book before him, but reading nothing, while his mind was lost in aimless, gloomy wanderings, when he heard the familiar sound of the unlocking of his door. ‘Oh, can’t they leave me alone even one day!’ he groaned to himself. A tall figure in an immense cloak entered. ‘Cameron!’ The two men stood grasping each other’s hands in silence. Alec’s mobile lips were working strangely. As for Cameron, a great beard effectually concealed the expression of his mouth, but his eyes were moist. Then he broke into a laugh, and withdrawing his hand gave Alec a shove which sent him staggering backwards. ‘What on earth made ye get into such a pickle?’ ‘That’s just what I want to know.’ ‘Come now, tell me all about it,’ said Cameron, seating himself on the bed. ‘If you don’t mind, old fellow, I’d rather not,’ said Alec. ‘You see, I’ve had to go over these wretched details so often; and I can hardly help thinking of them night and day, so it is a relief to speak of something else. Tell me about yourself. What are you doing now?’ ‘I’m assistant to Dr. Farquharson. But I don’t care for the work. I can scarcely prevent myself from pitching some of the patients out of the windows of their own bedrooms. They have nothing in the world the matter with them but over-feeding and too much coddling. Occasionally I give them the nastiest drugs I can think of, by way of relieving my feelings, especially castor oil.’ ‘You brute!’ ‘I am only fit for surgery. I hate the pill-and-powder business.’ ‘How did you come to be in London?’ asked Alec suddenly. ‘I wanted to see what the London hospitals are like.’ ‘Duncan, ye’re leein’,’ said Alec gravely. ‘Maybe I am; an’ maybe I’m no. That’s neither here nor there.’ ‘You saw something about--about it in the papers, didn’t you?’ ‘Lees an’ trash.’ ‘Well, I’m not so sure about that;’ and Alec, having thus reached the subject, told the whole story of the will. ‘And now, doesn’t it look very like as if I had struck that word “hundred” out of the draft?’ For answer Cameron gave a comical look, and slowly shook his head. ‘Ye haven’t brains enough, laddie, to be a thief.’ Alec looked anxiously at his friend, with searching eyes. Cameron bore the look unmoved. Yet Alec was not satisfied. ‘Do you think it _possible_ that I made a blunder like that unintentionally?’ A wild thought came into the lad’s head, and he uttered what was in his mind. ‘What if I were to tell you that I did it on purpose?’ he asked.