"There was yet a visit to the doctor. À simple formality,' assured me the secretary, with an air of taking an immense part in al my sorrows. Accordingly a young chap wearing his hat over the left eyebrow, some clerk I suppose,--there must have been clerks in the business, though the house was as stil as a house in a city of the dead,--came from somewhere up-stairs, and led me forth. He was shabby and careless, with ink-stains on the sleeves of his jacket, and his cravat was large and bil owy, under a chin shaped like the toe of an old boot. It was a little too early for the doctor, so I proposed a drink, and thereupon he developed a vein of joviality. As we sat over our vermouths he glorified the Company's business, and by-and-by I expressed casual y my surprise at him not going out there. He became very cool and col ected al at once. Ì am not such a fool as I look, quoth Plato to his disciples,' he said sententiously, emptied his glass with great resolution, and we rose.

"The old doctor felt my pulse, evidently thinking of something else the while. `Good, good for there,' he mumbled, and then with a certain eagerness asked me whether I would let him measure my head. Rather surprised, I said Yes, when he produced a thing like calipers and got the dimensions back and front and every way, taking notes careful y. He was an unshaven little man in a threadbare coat like a gaberdine, with his feet in slippers, and I thought him a harmless fool. Ì always ask leave, in the interests of science, to measure the crania of those going out there,' he said. Ànd when they come back, too?

' I asked. Òh, I never see them,' he remarked; ànd, moreover, the changes take place inside, you know.' He smiled, as if at some quiet joke. `So you are going out there. Famous. Interesting too.' He gave me a searching glance, and made another note. Èver any madness in your family?' he asked, in a matter-of-fact tone. I felt very annoyed. Ìs that question in the interests of science too?' Ìt would be,' he said, without taking notice of my irritation, ìnteresting for science to watch the mental changes of individuals, on the spot, but . . .' Àre you an alienist?' I interrupted. Èvery doctor should be--a little,' answered that original, imperturbably. Ì have a little theory which you Messieurs who go out there must help me to prove. This is my share in the advantages my country shal reap from the possession of such a magnificent dependency. The mere wealth I leave to others. Pardon my questions, but you are the first Englishman coming under my observation. . .