How on earth came you to guess that ?" "A mere guess, though I have always thought it quite possible, as the accounts of his death were very uncertain." Tom then set to work, and told the Doctor all that we know.

He looked very grave.

"This is far worse than I had thought," he said, and remained thoughtful.
Mary awoke in a fever and delirious.

They kept Charles as much from her as possible, lest she should let drop some hint of the matter to the boy; but even in her delirium she kept her secret well; and towards the evening the Doctor, finding her quieter, saddled his horse, and rode away ten miles to a township, where resided a drunken surgeon, one of the greatest blackguards in the country.
The surgeon was at home.

He was drunk, of course; he always was, but hardly more so to-day than usual.