Who could it be, he again asked himself, who had fallen upon him, and assaulted him in that terrible way? Meredith was not conscious of having enemies of that old-fashioned kind. There might be plenty of men who did not like him, as there were plenty of men whom he did not like; but between that and trying to murder him there was a great difference. He was not a man of the highest morals, perhaps, but he did not inflict injuries which would give any man a right to fling himself upon him in this way. It was a new idea to think that it might be a lover of Janet’s: but what lover could Janet have--some young fellow from the country, perhaps, driven frantic by seeing his beloved in such close colloquy with another man. Meredith’s reason, however, rejected this hypothesis. The young man from the country would not be such a tragical fool as to rush upon an unknown stranger and try to murder him solely because that stranger was walking home with his sweetheart. No! and besides, he remembered something--something which had been presented to his intelligence at the very last moment before that intelligence was temporarily quenched--something--what was it that he remembered? It was all perfectly clear up to this point. He saw every step as distinctly as if it were in a case he had studied from a brief, but here the evidence broke down. And yet it was lying somewhere in a corner of his mind if he could only get at it. He knew that it was there. “How is our patient to-day?” said Gussy, coming in, with the privilege of her long nursing, after Meredith had made his toilette, and was lying on the sofa to rest after that operation. The nurse shook her head. “Our patient,” she said, “has been thinking. He has been using his mind a great deal too much--he has been smiling to himself and knitting his brows as if he were trying to remember something. You will please to tell him, Miss Harwood, that this sort of thing will not do. I have done so, but he does not mind me.” “How cruel of you to say so!” said Meredith, “when you know that I mind you in everything! I never take an invigorating glass of soda-water without asking you if I may.” She shook her head again. “It is not glasses of soda-water that are in question, but using your head, Mr. Meredith, when it’s not in a fit state.” “With two or three holes in it,” said Meredith, ruefully. “No; you must not,” said Gussy, soothing him. “I am glad you think you have found a clue, but that is enough for to-day.” Yes, it was enough for to-day; he was compelled in his weakness to acknowledge that he could do no more. “And you must not think. You must not even attempt to think,” said Gussy; “thinking is not a thing for you to do. Promise me you will not try.”