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138 children such as Octavius," he continued, "although he is a good man, a very good man. But somehow, as my wife says, he lacks sympathy."

So he did. Brown, for some cases; he was a bit too straightforward for really successful general practice.

"Yes," interrupted the Colonel's wife as she suddenly re-entered the room, "he told me that a dose of castor oil and three days starvation would do the boy all the good in the world."

"Oh, dear, dear!" said the anxious father. "Starve the poor child! What do you think, d'Escombe?"—turning to me.

"Oh, I mustn't interfere, you know," I replied gravely. "But you must not let him get too low. I'm hoping to see him all right in a day or two." As a matter of fact Master Octavius was in for an attack of typhoid fever with which I proposed to infect him within the next two or three days.

The point was this. Typhoid takes a very long time to develop, as perhaps you know; you may be infected for three weeks or a month—walking about, playing games, doing your work, and simply feeling tired and limp all the time—but in the end the acute stage