At the sound his face set as though it were mortar. He
wanted no patients this night; but from the peremptory sound of the bell
he was sure some one had come who needed medicine or the knife, and he
could refuse neither; for was he not at everybody's beck and call, the
Medicine Man whose door was everybody's door!
"Damnation!" he said aloud, and turned towards the door expectantly.
Then he bitted himself to wait; and he did not wait long. Presently he
heard a voice say, "I must see him," and the door opened wide, and Louise
Mazarine stepped into the room. Her face was pale and distraught; her
blue eyes, with their long, melancholy lashes, stared at him in appealing
apprehension. Her lips were almost white; her hands trembled out towards
him.
"I've come--I've come!" she said. It had the finality of the last chapter
of a book.
The Young Doctor closed the door, ignoring for the instant the hands held
out to him. After all, he was a very sane Young Doctor, and he had the
faculty of keeping his head, and his heart, and his own counsel. Also he
knew there was an inquisitive old servant in the hallway.
When the door was closed, he turned round on Louise slowly, and then he
held out his hands to her, for she was shrinking away, as though he had
repulsed her. He pressed her trembling hands in the way that only
faithful friendship shows, and said:
"Yes, I know you've come, but tell me what you've come for.
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