As Dave read the words, his very heart seemed to stop beating.
His father had become a mute!
The shock was an awful one.
He turned to the doctor, who had just come in.
"See what my father has written!" he cried. "Oh, doctor, cannot something be done?"
"It is what I feared," replied Doctor Barrell, gravely. "I have known of such cases before. I had such a case to treat in Richmond, about six years ago."
"And the sufferer—does he talk now?" was Dave's eager question.
Doctor Barrell shook his head, slowly.
"I am sorry to say he does not, although in every other respect he is a perfectly healthy man."
"But my father—cannot you give me some hope?"