I thanked him very heartily for his exceedingly kind intentions toward me, and then we passed on to the discussion of certain other matters, with the details of which I need not weary the reader; and when I left him, an hour later, Hamilton assured me that his patient, although exhausted with his long talk, was none the worse, but rather the better, for my visit.  "You have taken him out of himself, diverted his thoughts into a more cheerful channel, and it has done him good.  We must play up that `step' business to the very last ounce," he concluded.