TWO YOUNG NATURALISTS. 



at the same time played with his walking-stick 

 amongst the gravel where they were pacing. 



Doctor Boberral, shortened to Uncle Bob by his 

 family, and to "the Doctor" by the people of Villers, 

 although there were at least eight doctors in the 

 neighbourhood, is a fine specimen of an old gentleman : 

 pale, with long white hair, scrupulously shaven chin, 

 and a kindly but somewhat bantering expression. 

 His very restless grey eyes sometimes gleamed with 

 remarkable force through his bushy eyebrows, as if to 

 interpret the soul of his patient and penetrate to the 

 very seat of his malady, and sometimes by a sudden 

 change melted into an expression of extreme sweetness. 

 With a toilet always unexceptionable, he wears a hat 

 with wide border, the usual white cravat wound 

 three times round the neck before being tied, and in 

 his button-hole the rosette of the Legion of Honour. 



In fact he is the best and most benevolent man I 

 know. 



His visit to Villers for a short time every year, 

 was looked upon in the neighbourhood as a real 

 blessing. 



Having been left a widower while still young, the 

 doctor had devoted himself more entirely than ever to 

 the cultivation of science and to the education of his son, 

 and had by these means been able gradually to assuage 

 his grief, though not to quite forget it. Considered 

 one of the first practitioners in Paris, he now carried 



