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192 other as well as we could, and I am pretty sure in innocence of heart: for I had no proof as yet that Reginald was a villain. I still prosecuted my medical studies vigorously, walked the hospitals, and saw dreadful operations performed. Reginald excelled in chemistry, I in surgery. Together as partners, and with full mutual confidence, we could have conquered the world. But now our confidence was gone, our mutual respect was at an end. A demon, the demon of jealousy and mistrust, had come between us. Still we maintained an outward semblance of friendship, but it was daily becoming more hollow and strained. I was inclined to be rather reckless and extravagant; I had a certain set of companions with whom I caroused at favourable times, and to whom I was known as the "Jolly Chirurgeon." This displeased my father, and I was often reproved gently by my mother, who regarded with positive terror the possibility of my being ruined by a short and rapid course of dissipation, as she knew many other young men had been. My sister loved me, but seemed to pity me. My own conscience stung me severely, and I constantly vowed change and reform; but who is to answer for our human weakness?

'My dear mother had frequently urged me to come to a decided understanding with Helen. She longed ardently, she said, to see us united before she died. Helen was not only a beautiful girl, she was also prudent and heroic had nursed both my parents through severe illnesses, and had once unmistakably saved my sister's life, and the house—perhaps the whole street and city—from being burnt down. My sister's garments had caught fire—a commonplace incident—and Helen, instead of screaming and helplessly wringing her hands, had instantly wrapped her in blankets, and emptied every vessel she could find with anything in it over her. She was, in a word, the idol of the house. I had not yet spoken to her of love, or told her