.

THE RAISING OF THE CURTAIN.
M.Marcel Loisel did his work with a masterly precision, with the aid of his brother and Portugais.

The man under the instruments, not wholly insensible, groaned once or twice.

Once or twice, too, his eyes opened with a dumb hunted look, then closed as with an irresistible weariness.
When the work was over, and every stain or sign of surgery removed, sleep came down on the bed--a deep and saturating sleep, which seemed to fill the room with peace.

For hours the surgeon sat beside the couch, now and again feeling the pulse, wetting the hot lips, touching the forehead with his palm.