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BffY PATIENT WHO NEVEB PAYS — MYSELF. 275

seemed hopeless, a sudden flash or flicker of the ex-
piring flame has renewed hope, and cautiously, and with
endless care lest the effort to relieve should result in
extinguishing the faint dying light, one has tried again
to feed the lamp with oil, the tiniest portion at a time,
perhaps feeling a kind of awe as the result has been
watched for, and the faint spark has seemed to have
been driven forth. Then the flickering has begun once
more, grown stronger, sunk, risen, sunk lower — ^lower,
darkness has fallen in the room, and one's heart has
sunk in unison with the dying flame — dying ? No : that
next flash has been more lasting. It was brighter,
too. There can be no doubt now. Pour in more oil
with tender hand ; feed the flickering flame ; watch
it night and day ; no care can be too great ; for the
enemy is ever on the watch, and a moment's want of
attention may result in the undoing of all that has
been done. And when at last the lamp of life burns
more strongly and the dark shade has fled — ^vanquished,
driven away, there is a triumph, a joy indescribable,
which rewards surgeons, or the learned in medicine,
alone more than pecuniary recompense or notoriety can
compass.
