was necessary. On his way home, he met Sir Everton, who inquired anxiously his opi nion of his patient. 66 Why, he has two things greviously against him," said Mr. Wood. "Indeed! I am sorry to hear it. What are they ?" "In the first place, he fell sick on the 17th day of the moon. In the second, his pulse beats weaker and weaker, from the little finger to the fore finger. You are not aware, peradventure, of the connexion between lunar influence, and the mortal quality of diseases ?" "I am not," answered the Baronet, as he turned to walk in the direction Mr. Wood was going. "It is a wonderful mystery of our nature," he continued; "but one which has been incontestably established. Let any person be seized with a violent malady on the first day of the moon; he is sure to die, and quickly, too; but let it happen on the second or third, and he is as sure to recover. The seventeenth, the twenty-first, the twenty-third, are all inevitably mortal!” "I hope our friend has been fortunate enough to select a favourable day," observed the Baronet. "You may smile," replied Mr. Wood; "but, if Miss Bagot be right, he sickened last Thursday three weeks; and if my almanack be right, last Thursday three weeks was the seventeenth day of the moon. However, I shall exert my best skill, for it is possible the young lady may be wrong." "You mentioned something peculiar in the Major's pulse," continued Sir Everton. "Yes," said Mr. Wood, taking hold of the Baronet's right hand, while he turned up his ruffle. "Do you notice how my fingers are spread along the artery which indicates the diastaltic and systaltic motion of the heart? When they are thus placed, I note under which finger the pulse beats strongest, and draw my conclusions accordingly. If, for example, I find it feeble under my little finger, and more and more feeble under each of the other fingers upwards to the heart, the danger is great. On the contrary, if it smite strongly under the little finger, and strongest of all under the fore-finger, which is nearest the heart, you see, it is a comfortable sign, promising recovery. But Major Bagot's beats weaker and weaker from the little finger." " "Well," said the Baronet, "I trust you will be able to save your patient, notwithstanding those ominous symptoms." รา "I trust so too!" responded Mr. Wood, and they separated; the doctor to hasten home and prepare his decoction, the Baronet to resume his steps in the direction of the Major's house, whither he was proceeding when they met; and ruminating by the way upon the necessity of calling in advice less under the influence of lunar prognostics, should there not be a speedy and manifest amendment in his friend's condition. PA CHAPTER VI. Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life, no more, Never, never, never, never! Lear. IT soon became evident that the very Major's case did require more skill than it was within the range of Mr. Wood's science. to apply. His strength was rapidly sinking; and he had every appearance of a man who was hourly taking large strides towards his Sir Everton, therefore, without pregrave. viously consulting him, (which might have given a dangerous shock to his feelings,) sent for an eminent physician from Hereford, and taking him with him, introduced him as a medical friend who had called accidentally at the Hall. The Major smiled languidly, shook his head, and seemed perfectly to understand the kind of accident that had produced the visit. So, likewise, did Caroline; for her eyes filled with tears as the Baronet led her out of the sick chamber to another room, that Dr. Read might converse with her father upon points which her presence would have prevented. Dr. Read remained a considerable time with the Major. When he came into the apartment where Sir Everton was conversing with Caroline, (endeavouring to console her with hopes in which he had himself no confidence, for he thought there was a most alarming change in his friend's appearance,) he forbore to express any opinion. Caroline faltered in resolution to ask one; and the Baronet, rightly guessing the cause of his silence, left the house with him. As they walked along, his worst fears were confirmed. "Your friend is dying fast," said the physician. "It is not in the power of the whole faculty to save him; nor could they had they been called in from the first. He has no |