Just then the bell was heard to ring.
"I hope it is not for you, Joseph," said his wife,
apprehensively.
"I am afraid it is," said the doctor, with a look of resignation.
"I thought it would be too good luck for me to have the whole
evening to myself."
"I wish you were not a doctor," said Mrs. Drayton.
"It is rather too late to change my profession, my dear," said
her husband, good-humoredly. "I shall be fifty next birthday.
To be sure, Ellen Jones tells me that in her class at the Normal
School there is a maiden lady of sixty-two, who has just begun to
prepare herself for the profession of a teacher. I am not quite
so old as that."
Here the servant opened the door, ushering in a farm laborer.
"Good-evening, Abner," said the doctor, recognizing him, as,
indeed, he knew every face within half a dozen miles. "Anything
amiss at home?"
"Mrs. Felton is took with spasms," said Abner. "Can you come
right over?"
"What have you done for her?"
"Put her feet in warm water, and put her to bed. Can you come
right over?"
"Yes," said the doctor, rising and exchanging his dressing-gown
for a coat, and drawing on his boots. "I will go as soon as my
horse is ready.
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