The old gentleman didn't speak a word as he put the watch back in his fob; but I saw by his face that he thought it was all over with her hearing, after what had just happened.
"'Oh, try and do something for her, sir!' says I.'Oh, for God's sake, don't give her up, sir!' 'My good soul,' says he, 'you must set her an example of cheerfulness, and keep up her spirits--that's all that can be done for her now.' 'Not _all,_ sir,' says I, 'surely not _all!'_ 'Indeed it is,' says he; 'her hearing is completely gone; the experiment with my watch proves it.

I had an exactly similar case with the mason's boy,' he says, turning to the other doctor.

'The shock of that fall has, I believe, paralyzed the auditory nerve in her, as it did in him.' I remember those words exactly, sir, though I didn't quite understand them at the time.

But he explained himself to me very kindly; telling me over again, in a plain way, what he'd just told the doctor.

He reminded me, too, that the remedies which had been already tried had been of no use; and told me I might feel sure that any others would only end in the same way, and put her to useless pain into the bargain.