450
WYLDER'S HAND.
may I beg that you will not hesitate to say how. I re-
main, my dear and reverend sir, with profound regrets
and sympathy, yours very sincerely,
"Jos. H. Larkin."
He had already imported the H. which was to germinate,
in a little while, into Howard.
The screw was now twisted pretty well home upon the
poor Vicar, who, if he had any sense at all, would, re-
membering Larkin's expression only a week before, sug-
gest his buying, and so, the correspondence would disclose,
in a manner most honorable to the attorney, the history
of the purchase. ,
But the clouds had begun to break, and the sky to clear,
over the good Vicar, just at the point where they had
been darkest and most menacing.
Little Fairy, after all, was better. Good-natured Bud-
dle had been there at nine, quite amazed at his being so
well, still reserved and cautious, and afraid of raising
hopes. But when he came back at eleven, and had com-
pleted his examination, he told them, frankly, that there
was a decided change; in fact, that the little man, with,
of course, great care, might do very well, and ought to
recover, if nothing went wrong.
Honest Buddle was delighted. He chuckled over the
little man's bed. He could not suppress his grins. He
was a miracle of a child! By George, it was the most
extraordinary case he had ever met with! It was all
that bottle, and that miraculous child; they seemed made
for one another. From two o'clock last night, the action
of his skin has commenced, and never ceased since. When
he was here last night, the little fellow's pulse was a hun-
dred and forty-four, and now down to ninety-seven!
The Doctor grew jocular; and who can resist a doctor's