All I can get out of him is--'Mother--dear mother--leave me to myself.

I shall come right again.

Only leave me to myself now.' But, how can I let him go on in this way?
Oh, Doctor, I am almost beside myself! What can it all mean?
Something dreadful has happened." I sat listening and reflecting for something like ten minutes.

Steadily, from one side the room overhead to the other, went the noise of feet; now slowly, now with a quicker motion: and now with a sudden tramp, that sent the listener's blood with a start along its courses.
"Won't you see him, doctor ?" I did not answer at once, for I was in the dark as to what was best to be done.

If I had known the origin of his trouble, I could have acted understandingly.