"'Give them to me,' he said.
"'But, Father, you don't want to see them!' I burst out. 'I'm going to destroy them. You—you mustn't see them! Let me burn them——'
"'Give them to me, my son," he repeated, and I gave them up like a child. It was remarkable.
"'At any rate, I warn you,' I began. But he only smiled.
"'When you are warned of fever in a house, do you pass it by, my son?' he asked me softly. 'But this is a different matter.'
"I admit that I couldn't meet his eyes.
"Well, he read them all through placidly, and then he sighed and shook his head.
"'Poor things, poor things!' he said, 'and now we'll burn them. There is nothing I can do.'
"So we burned them there and put back the bricks and he muttered some short prayer or other and made the sign of the cross over the fireplace and then turned to me.
"'Didn't I see some bread and ham and a cheese in that wire safe in the cellar, doctor?' says he. 'I had no supper to-night.'