The doctor came out to him, and they walked together under the trees in front of the building.
"Tell me the truth," said Calder.
The doctor blinked behind his spectacles.
"The optic nerve is, I think, destroyed," he replied.
"Then there is no hope ?" "None, if my diagnosis is correct." Calder turned the letter over and over, as though he could not make up his mind what in the world to do with it.
"Can a sunstroke destroy the optic nerve ?" he asked at length.
"A mere sunstroke?
No," replied the doctor.

"But it may be the occasion.

For the cause one must look deeper." Calder came to a stop, and there was a look of horror in his eyes.

"You mean--one must look to the brain ?" "Yes." They walked on for a few paces.

A further question was in Calder's mind, but he had some difficulty in speaking it, and when he had spoken he waited for the answer in suspense.
"Then this calamity is not all.