If the ebb which we have described before of the blood from the doctor's double chin was a gradual one, we can assure the reader that, in this case, it was rapid in proportion to the terror and dismay conveyed by this authentic, but astounding piece of intelligence. The whole face became pale, his eyes at once lost their lustre, and were, as he fixed them in astonishment upon the proctor, completely without speculation; his voice became tremulous, and, as he pulled out his handkerchief to wipe away the unexpected perspiration which the proctor's words had brought out upon his forehead, his hands trembled as if he had been suddenly seized with palsy. In truth, Purcel, who had a kind of good-natured regard for the little man, felt a sensation of compassion for him, on witnessing the extraordinary distress under which he labored. “I am sorry for this,” said he, “for I really know not what is to be done, and, what is equally distressing, our prospects are not at all likely to improve.” “You don't mean to say, Purcel, that circumstances are as bad as you report them--as bad--as desperate, I should say--and as ruinous?” “I fear,” said Purcel, “they go beyond the gloomiest and most desponding views you could take of them. The conspiracy, for such we must term it, is, in point of fact, deepening down to the very foundations, if I may use the expression, of society. Every day it is becoming more dangerous and alarming; but how it is to be checked or mitigated, or how we are to stand out of its way and avoid its consequences, heaven only knows, for I don't.” “But, Purcel, my dear friend, what am I and my domestic establishment to do? Good God! there is nothing but ruin before us! You know I always lived up to my income--indeed, at best, it was too limited for the demands of my family, and our habits of life. And now, to have the very prop--the only one on which I leant--suddenly snapt from under me--it is frightful. But you are to blame, Purcel; you are much to blame. Why did you not apprise me of this ruinous state of things before it came thus on me unawares? It was unfeeling and heartless in you not to have prepared me for it.” The proctor actually imagined, and not without reason, that the worthy doctor was beginning to get beside himself, as it is termed, on hearing such a charge as this brought against him; and he was about to express his astonishment at it, when Mr. Temple, his curate, who resided in the parsonage, made his appearance, and joined them at Dr. Turbot's request. “Temple,” said he, as the latter portion of his body began to pursue the other through the room, “are you aware of the frightful condition to which the country has come?” “Who can be ignorant of it?” replied Temple; “how can any man live in the country, and not know it?” “Yes, sir,” replied Turbot, tartly, “I have lived in the country, and, until a few minutes ago, I was ignorant of the extent to which it has come.”