for a week we have all missed you my dear but the change has set you up again i never saw you look better now you arc well we must try and keep you well we must leave the reader to imagine the mixed feelings with which mrs walter laid her head upon the pillow that night and we undertake to say that the female readers at all events will supply this blank in our narrative much better than we could though we were to fill a chapter with that subject alone passion is a terrible enemy to mere affection walter loved his father dearly yet for twenty four hours he had almost forgotten him but the moment he turned his horse s head toward hall uneasiness and something very like remorse began to seize him suppose his father had asked for him and wondered where he was and felt himself deserted and abandoned in his dying moments he his horse to a gallop and soon reached hall as he was afraid to go straight to his father s room he went at once to old baker and said in an agitated voice one word is he alive yes sir he is said john gravely and rather sternly has he asked for me more than once or twice sir walter sank into a chair and covered his face with his hands this softened the old servant whose manner till then had been sullen and grim you need not fret mr walter said he it s all right in course i know where you have been walter looked up alarmed i mean in a general way said the old man you have been a of an angel i know her sir and i hope to be her servant some day and if you was to marry any but her i d leave service altogether and so would milton but mr walter sir there s a time for everything i hope you ll forgive me for saying so however you are here now and i was and i have made it all right sir that s impossible said walter how could you make it ri ht with my poor dear father if in his last moments he felt himself neglected but he didn t feel himself neglected i don t understand you said walter well sir said old baker i m an old servant and i have done my duty to father and son according to my lights i told him a lie a lie john said walter a thundering lie said john rather i don t know as i ever told a greater lie in all my life i told him you was gone up to london to fetch a doctor walter grasped john baker s hand god bless you old man said he for taking that on your conscience i well you sha n t have yourself to reproach for my fault i know a doctor in london he has cured it more than once i ll wire him down this minute you ll the message and i ll go to my father the message was sent and when by a perilous secret the colonel awoke from an uneasy slumber he saw his son at the foot of the bed gazing at him my dear boy said he faintly and held out a wasted hand walter was pricked to the heart at this greeting not a word of remonstrance at his absence i fear you missed me father said he sadly that i have said the old man but i dare say you didn t forget me though you weren t by my side the high minded old soldier said no more and put no questions but confided in his son s affection and awaited the result of it from that hour walter nursed his father day and night dr arrived next day he examined the patient and put a great many questions as to the history and progress of the disorder up to that date and inquired in particular what was the length of time the fits generally endured here he found them all rather ah said he are seldom able to assist medical adviser with precise information on this point yet it s very important well can you tell me how long this attack has lasted they told him that within a day or two then now said he the most important question of all what day did the pain leave his the patient and john baker had to compare notes to answer this question and they made it out to be about twenty days then he ought to be as dead as a whispered the doctor after this he began to walk the room and with his hands behind him open those top windows said he now draw the screen and give his lungs a chance no draughts must blow upon him you know then he drew walter aside do you want to know the truth well then his life hangs on a thread the is creeping upward and will inevitably kill him if we can t get it down nothing but heroic will do that and it s three to five against them what do you say i dare not � i dare not pray put the question to i i will said the doctor and accordingly he did put it to him with a good deal of feeling and gentleness and the answer rather surprised him weak as he was colonel s dull eye flashed and he half raised himself on his elbow what a question to put to a soldier said he why let us fight to be sure i thought it was twenty to one � five to three i have often won the rubber with five to three against me ah said dr these are the that give the doctor a chance then he turned to baker have you any good champagne 