He scorned to crush a rival; his nature, in its nobility and magnanimity, cried out against such a proceeding. Base, low-minded men might do it; he could not. He did not consider that, if it was not his duty to crush the rival, it was his duty to crush the evil-doer. The serpent was not crushed. Dr. Lynch stopped at Pine Hill, on his return to Poppleton. He was admitted by Parkinson and shown to the library. What could he say for himself? Eugene was not particularly cordial in his greeting. The doctor did not expect him to be. “Mr. Hungerford, I have come here for the last time. I shall go out of your house before I am kicked out,” the doctor began. “Dr. Lynch, your name explains your position.” “No, sir; it does not.” The doctor did not often speak so decidedly, and his manner attracted Eugene’s attention. “It explains why you came here.” “Mr. Hungerford, I have a confession to make, before I depart. To-morrow morning I shall go upon the stand, and publicly acknowledge that I have wronged Mr. Birch. I shall tell the simple truth. Justice to him and to you requires this at my hands. It would have been done before, if I had had the courage to do it, for my error has caused me more suffering than it has him--infinitely more. I bow my head with shame.” When a man repents, who can frown upon him? Eugene could not. Neither he nor Dick Birch was what the world calls a shrewd man. Penitence, confession, a desire to be true and manly, would wipe out any offence. “I am sorry you have been led into error.” “I repent it in sackcloth and ashes; I did repent it months since.” Dr. Lynch explained why he had sent for Buckstone, for what purpose he had gone with him to The Great Bell; in fact, he told all that he had written out in his confession. Eugene shuddered when he spoke of the body, and wondered how even a doctor could cut off the head, and dissect the brain of one with whom, a few hours before, he had walked and talked. “Buckstone was dead, Mr. Hungerford,” said Dr. Lynch, solemnly. “If his tenantless clay could serve the living, I deemed it my duty to put it to that use. I believe the knowledge thus gained enabled me to save, the life of Mr. Dunbar, one of the best and most useful men in Poppleton. I grant that it was wrong for me to take the body for the purpose of dissection; but it would have been a greater wrong to let Mr. Dunbar die.” “Were you not fully informed before in regard to the brain?” “I should have been; but I was not. There was a certain point which was quite dark to me. The brain of Buckstone made it clear.” “How came Dick’s handkerchief and cigar in the boat?” “I put them there. I confess with shame and humiliation that I intended to wrong your friend.” Eugene cast a loathing glance at him. “You despise me, as I despise myself. If I had repented to-day, for the first time, I should not have dared to come into your presence. Will you hear my story from the beginning?”