He is a fine fellow and worthy even of Agnes Campion . Well , here we are . Coming in , David ? '' `` Not this afternoon -- have n't got time . I must mosey up to the North End to see a man who has got a lovely throat . Nobody can find out what is the matter . He has puzzled all the doctors . He has puzzled me , but I 'll find out what is wrong with him if he 'll only live long enough . '' CHAPTER II . A LETTER OF DESTINY Eric , finding that his father had not yet returned from the college , went into the library and sat down to read a letter he had picked up from the hall table . It was from Larry West , and after the first few lines Eric 's face lost the absent look it had worn and assumed an expression of interest . `` I am writing to ask a favour of you , Marshall , '' wrote West . `` The fact is , I 've fallen into the hands of the Philistines -- that is to say , the doctors . I 've not been feeling very fit all winter but I 've held on , hoping to finish out the year . `` Last week my landlady -- who is a saint in spectacles and calico -- looked at me one morning at the breakfast table and said , VERY gently , ` You must go to town to-morrow , Master , and see a doctor about yourself . ' `` I went and did not stand upon the order of my going . Mrs. Williamson is She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed . She has an inconvenient habit of making you realize that she is exactly right , and that you would be all kinds of a fool if you did n't take her advice . You feel that what she thinks to-day you will think to-morrow . `` In Charlottetown I consulted a doctor .
He punched and pounded me , and poked things at me and listened at the other end of them ; and finally he said I must stop work ` immejutly and XXXXX onct ' and hie me straightway to a climate not afflicted with the north-east winds of Prince Edward Island in the spring .
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