Archie stood looking vaguely in the lighted window of a book shop, trying to nerve himself for the approaching ordeal.

My lord and he had met and parted in the morning as they had now done for long, with scarcely the ordinary civilities of life; and it was plain to the son that nothing had yet reached the father's ears.

Indeed, when he recalled the awful countenance of my lord, a timid hope sprang up in him that perhaps there would be found no one bold enough to carry tales.

If this were so, he asked himself, would he begin again?
and he found no answer.
It was at this moment that a hand was laid upon his arm, and a voice said in his ear, "My dear Mr.Archie, you had better come and see me." He started, turned round, and found himself face to face with Dr.
Gregory.

"And why should I come to see you ?" he asked, with the defiance of the miserable.
"Because you are looking exceedingly ill," said the doctor, "and you very evidently want looking after, my young friend.