Therefore, he felt himself justified in forbidding any one to acquaint Braden of the desperate condition into which he had fallen.

He insisted that no word be sent to him, and, as in all things, the singular power of old Templeton Thorpe prevailed over the forces that were opposed.

Letters came to him infrequently from the young man,--considerate, formal letters in which he never failed to find the touch of repressed gratitude that inspired the distant writer.

Soon he would be coming home to "set up for himself." Soon he would be fighting the battle of life on the field that no man knew and yet was traversed by all.
Dr.Bates and the eminent surgeons who came to see the important invalid, discussed among themselves, but never in the presence of Mr.Thorpe, the remarkable and revolutionary articles that had been appearing of late in one of the medical journals over the signature of Braden Thorpe.

There were two articles, one in answer to a savage, denunciatory communication that had been drawn out by the initial contribution from the pen of young Thorpe.
In his first article, Braden had deliberately taken a stand in favour of the merciful destruction of human life in cases where suffering is unendurable and the last chance for recovery or even relief is lost.