“You are a very clever girl,” said Sylvester. She shook her head with a little air of scorn and threw her sewing on the table. “Oh, no. It pleases my vanity to think so. But what do I know in comparison with you? What can I do? You go to a bedside and hold the keys of life and death in your hand. To you, all the hidden forces and mysteries of nature are every-day commonplaces. Professor Steinthal of Vienna, whom I met the other day at Lady Milmo's, told me that, if you chose, you could become the greatest bacteriologist in Europe.” “Did he say that?” asked Sylvester, eagerly. “Yes, and that is why you ought to go away and live in London and fulfil your life gloriously.” A look of amusement came into his grave eyes, and lit for a moment the sombreness of a face prematurely careworn. “I _am_ going to London,” he said. “I sold the practice this morning.” Ella rose from her chair impetuously. “Why didn't you tell me at once, instead of letting me say all these silly things? It is just like a man.” “You took my apathy so much for granted,” he said, laughing. “I suppose I am a weak wretch, after all,” said Ella. Sylvester put down his pipe and stood by her side. “It is really all your doing, Ella. This is not the first time you have pointed out my way to me. And it won't be the last, will it?” There was a note of pathetic appeal in his tone that made her heart beat a little faster. Of all the phases of his manhood that her instinctive feminine alertness had caused him to present to her, this one moved her the most strongly. An unwonted shy tenderness came into her eyes. “It is for you to settle that,” she said. He looked at her for a moment as if about to speak, but some inward conflict seemed to check the words. A man's memories and dead loves rise up sometimes and stare at him in sad reproach. “I wish I had the gift of speech,” he said. “What do you want to say?” she asked gently. He smiled whimsically. “If I could tell you that, I should have the gift.” “You'll let me see something of you in London, won't you?” “Why, of course! Whom else should I want to see? Frodsham's practice is a large one--I am buying a share, you know. A specialist generally has his hands full. I shall have neither the time nor the desire to go about butterflying. Besides, it is only a few people that like me. I'm generally looked upon as a 'stick.'”