"Steady with that--here, let me take it?" he cried, as Angus was lifting the last item ashore. "Business and pleasure," he continued, raising the box in his arms and indicating his clubs and fishing-rods with a jerk of the head. "I've one or two things here that may help me in my work, and as they are very delicate instruments I would rather carry them myself." As we approached the house the sound of the piano greeted us in the distance; and soon we could distinguish the strains of that most beautiful and understanding of all burial marches, Grieg's "Aase's Tod." "My daughter can even welcome us with a tune," said the old man proudly. To him all music came under the category of "tunes," with the sole exception of "God Save the King," which was a national institution. Garnesk stopped and stood on the path, the deal box clasped carefully in his arms, his head on one side, listening. "We have the right sort of patient to deal with, anyway," he remarked, with a sigh of relief. But to me the melancholy insistence of the exquisite harmonies was fraught with ill-omen, and I could not restrain the shudder of an unaccountable fear as we resumed our walk. Later on, when I found an opportunity to ask her why she had chosen that particular music, I was only partially relieved by her ingenuous answer: "Oh! just because I love it, Ronnie," she said, "and there are no difficult intervals to play with your eyes shut. I thought it was rather clever of me to think of it. I shall soon be able to play more tricky things. It will cure me of looking at the notes when I can see again." Myra and the young specialist were introduced; and, though he chatted gaily with her, and touched on innumerable subjects, he never once alluded to her misfortune. Though the General was evidently anxious that Garnesk should make his examination as soon as possible, hospitality forced him to suggest dinner first, and I was surprised at the alacrity with which the visitor concurred, knowing, as I did, his intense interest in the case. But, after a few conventional remarks to the General and Myra, I was about to show him to his room when he seized my arm excitedly. "Quick!" he whispered. "Where's the dog?" I led him to a room above the coach-house where poor Sholto was a pitiful prisoner. Garnesk deposited his precious packing-case on the floor, and called the dog to him. Sholto sprang forward in a moment, recognising the tone of friendship in the voice, and planted his paws on my companion's chest. For twenty minutes the examination lasted. One strange test after another was applied to the poor animal; but he was very good about it, and seemed to understand that we were trying to help him. "I should hate to have to kill that dog, but it may be necessary before long," said the specialist. "But why didn't you tell Miss McLeod her dog was blind?"