At first Wilhelm’s wound was very bad.  It had been carelessly bound up at first, and in the long journey to the infirmary had been neglected, but owing to antiseptic treatment the fever soon abated and then left him entirely.  He took such a particular fancy to the doctor that after a few days they were like old friends, and knew everything about each other.

Dr, Schrotter was an unusual type, both in appearance and character.  Of middle height, extraordinarily broad-shouldered, and with large strong hands and feet, he gave the impression of having been intended for a giant, whose growth had stopped before reaching its fulfillment.  The powerful, nobly-formed he ad was rather bent, as if it bore some heavy burden.  His light hair, not very thick, and slightly gray on the temples, grew together in a tuft over the high forehead.  The closely-cropped beard left his chin free, and the fine mustache showed a mouth with a rather satirical curve and closely compressed lips A strong aquiline nose and narrow bright blue eyes completed a physiognomy indicating great reserve and a remarkable degree of melancholy.  It is no advantage to a man to possess a Sphinx-like head.  The pretty faces apparently full of secrets offer easy deceptions, and one expects that the mouth when open will reveal all that the eyes seem to mean.  One is half-angry and half-inclined to laugh when one discovers that the face of the Sphinx has quite an everyday meaning, and utters only commonplaces.  But with Dr. Schrotter one had no such deception.  He spoke quite simply, and when he closed his lips he left in the minds of his listeners a hundred thoughts which his words had conveyed, He was born in Breslau, had studied in Berlin, and had started a practice there when his student day’s were over.  The Revolution of ’48 came, and he at once threw himself head over ears into it.  He fought at the barricades, took part in the storming of the Arsenal, became a celebrated platform orator, and relieved a great deal of distress during the reactionary policy which followed, leaving soon afterward, however, to travel abroad.  He went to London almost penniless, and at first, through his ignorance of the language, he was barely able to maintain himself, but he soon had the good fortune to obtain an appointment in the East India Company.  In the spring of 1850 he went to Calcutta, where he helped to manage the School of Medicine, and some years later was sent to Lahore, where he also established a medical school.  After twenty years’ service he was discharged with a considerable pension.  His return to Europe falling in with the outbreak of the war, he hastened to offer his voluntary services to the army as surgeon.  Owing to temperate habits and a strong physique, he had kept in good health, and no one would have dreamed that this strong, fifty-year-old man had passed so many years in an enervating tropical climate.  The only signs it had left on his face were the dark, yellowish color of his skin, and the