In the full tide of these resentful thoughts he rushed around a corner, and bumped against another individual coming his way full tilt, knocking him down flat on the pavement. Thus brought to a full stop, Doctor Ludington bent over his victim, exclaiming contritely: “Beg pardon! I did not see you. Are you much hurt?” The man lay still, groaning, and as he bent over him in the glare of the electric light, he saw that he was a rough, country-looking fellow, miserably seedy, with a cadaverous face, as from illness or pinching hunger. “Poor wretch!” he thought, and put out kindly hands to help him up. With this aid the young fellow got on his feet again, groaning: “It’s the lack of food that tipped me over so easy. For the love of God, help me! I’ve not tasted food for three days. I’m down on my luck!” “Poor chap! You certainly look it!” and Doctor Ludington gave him his arm and conducted him to a quiet restaurant. “A private room,” he said to the waiter, who quickly obeyed the order. There was a comfortable sofa, and he advised his protégé to lie down there and rest while the food was preparing. The seedy young fellow obeyed, and so grateful was the rest and warmth that before the appetizing meal was brought he fell asleep. “Poor fellow!” thought the sympathizing young physician, stopping in his excited tramp across the room, and scrutinizing more closely the threadbare garb and cadaverous face. He gave a violent start, and muttered: “I have seen the fellow before--but where?” He began to rack his memory in order to fit the poor wretch into his proper niche. The waiter entered with the supper before he had succeeded in his effort. “Come, wake up; here is food!” he said, shaking him until he shambled up, and, scenting the food with the avidity of a starving hound, he rushed to the table. The sympathetic young physician exclaimed: “Slowly now at first, or you may make yourself ill after so long a fast.” The hungry wretch with difficulty restrained himself from devouring the food at a rate sufficient to choke himself, and gloated over it with a sort of rapture that precluded even a glance at his benefactor. But Doctor Ludington never took his eyes off of him, more and more puzzled by the elusive likeness to one he had known somewhere in the dim past. It would have been easy enough to ask his name, but he would not disturb him while he satisfied the ravenous cravings of nature. His sympathies were too keen and alert. He simply paced up and down the room, too excited to remain still, and with only a languid interest in the fellow’s identity, after all, for Eva remained upper-most in his thoughts through everything. It was a long half hour that his hungry protégé remained at table, satisfying the demands of hunger, but at last he pushed back his chair with a sigh of content, saying hoarsely: “Thankee, stranger, I feel like a new man, ready to begin the tussle with life again. By gum, I b’lieve you have saved my life!”