“Hungerford, don’t let Dr. Bilks marry Julia until you have seen the end of this matter. Good by, Hungerford;” and Dick Birch, after convulsively grasping the hand of his friend, leaped from the vehicle, and rushed into the hotel. Eugene was paralyzed by the suggestion contained in these words. He looked at the door a moment, then turned his horse and drove towards Pine Hill. Dick was angry and excited; he was in no condition to speak calmly. It was best to leave him alone for a time. He would drive home and inform his mother and Julia of the result of the examination, and then return. “Marry Dr. Bilks,” repeated he several times, as he drove towards Pine Hill. Had the doctor driven Dick from Julia’s presence for this purpose? He had been more than a physician to Julia--he was now, when she no longer needed his services as such. Dick’s words were suggestive, at least. CHAPTER XXIII. JULIA HUNGERFORD. “And this is the end of all my hopes!” exclaimed Dick Birch, as he rushed into his room in the Bell River House. He was gloomy, sad, and despondent. The brightest vision of life had eluded his grasp, for Julia Hungerford was already in the toils of Dr. Bilks. She had forgotten him. If she ever cherished a sentiment of regard for him, it had passed away. He was an outcast from her presence, while the demigod of Pine Hill was constantly with her. There was no difficulty in prophesying what the result would be. In a few months, perhaps a few weeks, she would become the wife of Dr. Bilks; and people would sentimentally add that the life he had saved was consecrated to him. Eugene was blinded by his sense of obligation to the doctor. What he had seen before he could not see now; but Dick had given him a solemn warning, and he hoped that he would profit by it. The attentions of Dr. Bilks had been too marked to escape the notice of the gossips of Poppleton, and a marriage was confidently expected. Even Dick, now banished from Julia’s presence, accepted the reports; but he could not reconcile himself to such a union. He loved Julia, but he felt that he could conquer his own passion if the one who led her to the altar were worthy of her. To see her the wife of such a man as he believed Dr. Bilks to be was intolerable. He had uttered his warning; it had cost him a great sacrifice of pride to do it; but he had done it, and he could do no more. Dick Birch had decided what to do; he had already said good by to Eugene, and he intended to leave Poppleton that night. He had not utterly despaired of doing justice to himself and justice to Dr. Bilks. If an angel from heaven had assured him that the doctor was a villain, he could not have been more confident of the fact; but his enemy was as cunning as he was unscrupulous. Thus far he had had his own way; thus far he had explained everything that tended to implicate him, even in a falsehood, and had fortified all his statements till they were plausible to the public mind.