‘Yes; pretty well.  I’ve attended him for many years.’

‘Always drinking, I suppose; always at it—­eh?’

‘He has not been a temperate man, certainly.’

’The brain, you see, clean gone—­and not a particle of coating left to the stomach; and yet what a struggle he makes—­an interesting case, isn’t it?’

‘It’s very sad to see such an intellect so destroyed.’

’Very sad, very sad indeed.  How Fillgrave would have liked to have seen this case.  He is a very clever man, is Fillgrave—­in his way, you know.’

‘I’m sure he is,’ said Dr Thorne.

’Not that he’d make anything of a case like this now—­he’s not, you know, quite—­quite—­perhaps not quite up to the new time of day, one might say so.’

‘He has had a very extensive provincial practice,’ said Dr Thorne.

’Oh, very—­very; and made a tidy lot of money too, has Fillgrave.  He’s worth six thousand pounds, I suppose; now that’s a good deal of money to put by in a little town like Barchester.’

‘Yes, indeed.’

’What I say to Fillgrave is—­keep your eyes open; one should never be too old to learn—­there’s always something new worth picking up.  But no—­he won’t believe that.  He can’t believe that any new ideas can be worth anything.  You know a man must go to the wall in that way—­eh, doctor?’

And then again they were called to their patient.  ’He’s doing finely, finely,’ said Mr Rerechild to Lady Scatcherd.  ’There’s fair ground to hope he’ll rally; fair ground, is there not, doctor?’

‘Yes; he’ll rally; but how long that may last, that we can hardly say.’

’Oh, no, certainly not, certainly not—­that is not with any certainty; but still he’s doing finely, Lady Scatcherd, considering everything.’

‘How long will you give him, doctor?’ said Mr Rerechild to his new friend, when they were again alone.  ’Ten days?  I dare say ten days, or from that to a fortnight.’

‘Perhaps so,’ said the doctor.  ’I should not like to say exactly to a day.’

’No, certainly not.  We cannot say exactly to a day; but I say ten days; as for anything like a recovery, that you know—­’

‘Is out of the question,’ said Dr Thorne, gravely.

’Quite so; quite so; coating of the stomach clean gone, you know; brain destroyed:  did you observe the periporollida?  I never saw them so swelled before:  now when the periporollida are swollen like that—­’

’Yes, very much; it’s always the case when paralysis has been brought about by intemperance.’

’Always, always; I have remarked that always; the periporollida in such cases are always extended; most interesting case, isn’t it?  I do wish Fillgrave could have seen it.  But, I believe you and Dr Fillgrave don’t quite—­eh?’

’No, not quite,’said Dr Thorne; who, as he thought of his last interview with Dr Fillgrave, and of that gentleman’s exceeding anger as he stood in the hall below, could not keep himself from smiling, sad as the occasion was.