So far, matters had gone better than Byron had dared to hope; but now his heart sank. If Dr. Derek were to see Sabina he might realize—Byron accredited him with miraculous powers—on what a fairy superstructure his diagnosis was built. "Well, sir," he said, "just as you like. If you think you ought to come, do so. I shouldn’t like for people to talk after she were buried up and say we didn’t do what we ought to ’ave done; but she’s dead and stiff." "You don’t make a point of it, then?" "I want you to zactly please yerself, sir." "Humph!" The doctor considered. "I saw her yesterday and I’m pretty busy. Yes, yes, it isn’t necessary." His gold nib in its cool agate holder began to run in smooth flowing style over a sheet of partly printed paper. "Show that to the undertaker," he said, passing the certificate to Byron. "Thank you, doctor, and for all the trouble you’ve took of ’er." He placed the paper carefully in his pocketbook and prepared to go. "Seems rather hard that after all you couldn’t pull ’er through!" In Dr. Derek’s bosom the professional man was often at war with the scientific. "The fact is, Byron," he said honestly, "I didn’t expect to save her. I’ve never thought she would live so long." His experienced glance dwelt fleetingly on the other’s face. "You look pretty seedy, yourself. If you don’t take care we shall have you on the sick list." "Well, sir, ’twas awful sudden, ’twas. I don’t feel to believe she’s really gone. I’m like I’m in a dream." But, in his hidden mind, he was wondering why the man who saw so much could not pierce to the little more. "Must have been a terrible shock to you. When is the funeral to be?" "Monday, I believe, sir." "Walking, I suppose?" The man looked surprised. "What else would we ’av, sir?" "No, of course, I was forgetting. Well, I’ll try to come to it. I had the greatest possible respect for your wife as a farmer. She should have been a man." "’Tis great respect you’re payin’ her, sir." The doctor smiled enigmatically. "That’s as may be," he said and, indeed, for him to say a woman resembled a man was the reverse of complimentary. In his experience the sterile female frequently approximated to the male in type and habits; and he thought such approximation a sign of degeneracy. He had been interested from a scientific point of view in Mrs. Byron. She had led a man’s life and she was childless. Was the latter a consequence, or had the childlessness determined her way of life? He could find arguments in support of both theories.