Red Pepper's Patients / With an Account of Anne Linton's Case in Particular

its expensive perfection into the gutter, paused to ask his way of the man with no overcoat, his hands shoved i

! Next house beyond the corner-the brick one." He turned to point. "Tell it by

ble, white-pillared porches. The row was indeed a formidable one and suggested many waiting people within the house. But after an instant's hesitation he turned up the gravel path toward the wing of the house upon whose doo

. "Incidentally, perhaps, I'll get a line on why you stick to a small suburban town like this when you

ws of dull-toned books cramming a solid phalanx of bookcases, and a number of interesting old prints on the walls gave it, as the stranger, lifting critical eyes, was obliged to admit to himself, a curious air of dignity in spite of the mingled atmosphere of drugs and p

picuous with bandages. One eye, one cheek, the whole of her neck, and both her hands were swathed in white, but the othe

for he was conscious that the entire roomful of p

have new skin. He gets me more new skin every day.

d of him," murmu

d, "when he isn't cross. He isn'

l glances from behind his magazine. Several, presumably the owners of the vehicles outside, were of the typical village type, but there were others more sophisticated, and several who were pa

ferent, after all, from most doctors' waiting-room crowds. I might send in a card, but, if I

r her out, and the fair-haired nurse, who sat at a desk near the door or came out of the consulting room with the patient, would summon the next. The lady of the furs and violets sent in her card, but, as the stranger had anticipated in his own case, it procured her no more tha

he consulting-room door opened once more. But it clos

ctor Burns! I simply can't do

-absolutely," replied a brusque voice, which then softened s

to say that Doctor Burns would now see his one remaining caller, but at that moment Doctor Burns himself appeared in the doorway, glanced at the str

, well-if this isn't the greates

es being looked into by a pair of glowing hazel eyes beneath a heavy thatch of well-

ntire population of this town should tell you its aches, just f

hen, Cooly-if I have one. I didn't know I had. How are you? Man, but it's good to see you! Come a

e. I must go to-night. And I came to consult yo

or dinner? Step into the next room, Cooly. On your way let me present you to my as

open window had freshened the small place beyond any possibility of its being called stuffy. As he closed the window with a shiver and looked about him, glancing into the white-tiled surgery b

urns, known to all his intimates, and to many more who would not have ventured to call him by that title, as "Red Pepper Burns," on account of the combination of red head, quick temper, and wit which were his most distinguishing characteristics of body and mind, was a stalwart fello

is face was dark and rather thin, showing sensitive lines about the eyes and mouth, and a tendency to melancholy in the eyes themselves, even when lighted by a smile, as

questioned Burns. "If that's t

h a grimace. "I wonder if you doctors know what a mor

when a skin is jaundiced; but only by virtue of that moral standpoint can

"I knew you were a man who jumpe

urse. Well, I jump to conclusions now, in just the same way, only perhaps with a bit more understanding of the

e he thought them. The most impressive was the fact that he was unable to get a thoroughly good night's sleep except when physically exhausted, which in his present manner of life he s

ve you for this insomnia?

uccession of men?" demanded Coolidg

p old friends in the profession until th

our family physician look me over, and that he suggested my

What did he

se to do-and slept a bit better while I was awa

mind, I suppose?"

mething on my mind? Is there anybody whose mind is free from a weight o

ours is one that's got to stay there or whether you may be rid of it. Would

e: "It won't do a particle of good to tell, but I suppose, if I consult you

it?" Burn

, Red," he said, irritation in his voice

gh for people to think it's

een gone two months. He

end of that third month you can bring her home," said Burns comfortab

asure and got to his feet. "If you don

Carrington-and whose wife was as much in love with him as she was with you-when he comes to me and talks abo

ep himself quiet. "We have come to a definite understanding that we c

friend's face, and the glance he now gave him w

the other haughtily, but hi

ure yourself. And I shouldn't believe you. You may as well own up"-his voice was gentle now-"that you're suffering-and not only with hu

ding, turned upon him. "How can you as

sked, just to get it out of the w

sake-no! You

nearly everything from this case except a certain phrase you used a few minutes ago. I'm inclined t

. "You're mistaken ther

changed since the days when we all envied you. You're still

e," said Coolidge, biting his lip

other man. What I mean by asking you that one is to prove to you that though you may have something to do, you have no job to work at. As it happens you haven't even what most other rich men have, the trouble of looking after your income-and as long as your father lives you won't have

do with my present trouble. My leisure was not what-" He paused, as

later Miss Mathewson knocked, and gave a message to Burns. He re

iddies. The other's away just now. I'll be back in time for dinner. Meanwhile, we'll

did so, and reappeared looking as if he had washed away the fatigue of his afternoon's work with the physical process. He led Gardner Coolidge

f the exterior? He had not dreamed of finding such refinement of beauty and charm in connection with the office of the village doctor. In half a dozen glances to right and left Gardner Coolidge, experienced in appra

owing, drawn along by the child's hand. Coolidge looked, and liked that which he saw. And he understood, with one glance into the dark

woman who seemed to him very unusual. Charm she possessed in full measure, beauty in no less, but neither of these terms nor both together could wholly describe Ellen Burns. There was something about her which se

embraces of both father and mother consoling him for his banishment to the arms of a coloured mammy. Coolidge thoroughly enjoyed the simple but appetizi

ake you with me. I suppose you have a distaste for the sight of illness, b

ded Coolidge with a frown. "If Mrs. Burns is too busy to

s. I'm telling you frankly, for you'd see through me if I pretended to tak

unexplainable impulse which had brought him here to see a man who, as he should have known from past experience in college days,

idge remarking that the call must be a brief one, for

a friendly call only, for there's nothing more I c

ver reluctant. "I hope he's

frighten you? Don't be wor

ime he felt constrained to let the other have his way. And after all there proved to be nothin

ns of a lifetime carefully preserved. In the worn, old, red-cushioned armchair by a glowing stove sat an aged figure of a certain dignity and attractiveness in spite of

tor. I suspect you know how it shortens the nig

tly on the frail shoulder, his voice as tender as that of

meet strangers every day, spoke with him a little, and showed him the courtesy of genuine interest when he tried to entertain them with a brief account of an incident which had happened on his train that day. Altogether, there was nothing about the visit which he could have characterized a

ach other. That they were making the most of these last days was equally apparent, though not a word was said to suggest it. And tha

o go, and when he responded: "It's good to myself I am, my dears, when I come

briskly along, then Coolidge said reluctantly: "Of course I should have a

day regularly, just as if I hadn't seen it before. And when I go back and look at the woman I love I say to my

urely it was a wise physician who had given him that heartbreaking little scene to r

n in the consulting room before he should leave for his train, "is that all the pre

st to last together. That's the whole force of the illustration, to my mind, Cooly. It's the standing shoulder to shoulder to face life that does the thing. Whatever plan you make for your after life, when you bring Alicia back with you-as y

opened his lips and closed them again. Red Pepper Burns opened his own lips-and clo

that. You'll sleep again, and laugh again-and cry again, too,-be

e leave of Mrs. Burns. When they left the house Coolidge told his friend briefly w

e ring in his voice. But he did not go on to talk about her; that

o his physician. "You haven't given me

ription?" Burns inquired, ge

f it ever does," Coolidge said. "Meanwhile, the more g

ight, you shall hav

gers from crowding. He read over what he had written, his face sober, his eyes intent. He scrawled a nearly indecipherable "Bu

ng tightly and looking stra

minutes when I felt differently, but I understand you better now. And

take their heads off you'd wonder that they ever came again. Pl

ou've said or done, do you, Red? Bygones are bygones with

s eyes. "That's what the outsiders

t it

e of explaining oneself, or trying to? Better to go on looking unsympath

iced there before-lines written by endurance, nothing less. But even as the patient looked the physician

d. "Mind you let me know how-yo

e read Burns's prescription. He had a feeling that it woul

e miles eve

lant, except one cup o

r the cottage. Don't l

y night to keep you fr

rn