No: not ghastly to the earnest men who saw in it the martyr immolated to the saving of thousands, as, with deft fingers and unerring skill, the great surgeon made his incisions; and exemplifying step by step each act and its reasons, he performed his wonderful experiment to the last stroke; and then, having finished, was about to draw back when there was a volley of stones upon door and window, and, amid the creaking of woodwork and the tinkling of falling glass, came the yelling of the virtuous mob--"Yah!" And directly afterwards--"Body-snatchers! Yah!" For a moment there was a stillness, as if the audience in the lecture theatre had been paralysed; then there was a general stampede towards the door, and a burst of rage, excitement, and dread, as a voice loudly announced that the mob had scaled the wall and were in the yard--a tremendous volley of stones and brickbats endorsing the announcement. For a few minutes only one present seemed to keep his head, and that was the old operator, who whispered a few orders to his assistants, and with rapid action the table, with its burden, was draped and wheeled beyond the curtained arch from which it had been drawn, the banging of a heavy door and the shooting of bolts following directly after. The beating of heavy sticks upon the doors, the smashing in of the windows, glass and wire-work giving way at every volley, and the yelling of the mob, made a deafening uproar, during which the old surgeon calmly began returning his favourite operating knives to their purple velvet-lined cases, locking them up carefully, as he turned to Horace North, who stood beside him, and said, with a smile: "Now what have we done to deserve such treatment as this?" "Yah! Body-snatchers!" came with a burst of yells from without. "Done, sir?" said the young doctor, flushing. "Toiled hard to discover means of alleviating pain and saving life. This is our reward." "Yes," said the old man, smiling, as he patted his cases. "My pets; I shouldn't like to lose them. Yes, sir, ignorance in Christian England in the nineteenth century!" "Yah! Body-snatchers!" came again; and the howling and yelling mob were evidently forcing their way in. "Never mind them, Mr North," continued the old man. "Let me see and hear from you. I believe in your theory. You have gone too far, my dear sir; youth is sanguine. You have aimed at the top of the mountain. You will not get there, but to a good high place, and I am proud to have met so clever, so talented a young man." "Thank you, sir; thank you," cried North, as the old man lowered his cases into his pockets; "but hadn't we better try and get away?" "Try?" said the old man. "I do not see how we can. The mob are arranging for seizing by escalade." "Yah! Body-snatchers!" came in a fierce yell, louder, too, as it followed upon a tremendous crash.