Summary

Asbury Fox, a young college man living in New York, arrives back in the South to stay with his mother and sister at the family dairy farm. Asbury is extremely ill and believes he is going to die. His mother and sister come to pick him up at the train station. His mother tries to convince Asburyhe isn’t going to die. She says all he needs is a little work and fresh air in the South. He refuses to see Doctor Block, the town doctor. His sister, Mary George, said Asbury was faking his illness. Asbury wanted to be a writer and “artist,” and he couldn’t write anything decent. According to Mary George, he faked an illness in order to be a tragic figure.

Once in his bed, Asbury awoke to find Doctor Block standing over him. Asbury kept insisting he was...