“Take these with you to your lodging-house, and come in and see me to-morrow.”
“But how can I, consistently——”
“Come, now, after I have prepared the medicines for your particular case, you would not surely refuse them, and thus render them useless.”
“Very well, Doctor, I will take them; but remember that I do not accept them gratuitously. That, however, does not lessen your kindness in offering them. I will accept treatment at present, but it must be with the understanding that I am to pay you as soon as I——”
“Have more money than I have,” interrupted the Doctor.
On arriving at his lodging-house, and entering his room, the owner of the packages began to examine them. One was a small vial with a brandy-colored liquid in it, and a label on instructing the patient to indulge in a certain number of drops at certain intervals. Another was a small, round paper box, which rattled in such a way as to entirely preclude the idea of its containing any thing else than pills. A label on this box suggested to the afflicted the expedience of enveloping one of them in his stomach each evening about bed-time.
A third box, however, was a puzzle. It was like the second in size, was heavier, did not rattle, and bore the following astounding directions:
“Use According to Judgment.”
What could this mean? How should the patient know what rules to observe in the use of this box of “medicine,” limited as was his knowledge of the art of Esculapius? Still, it would do no harm to open the box and see what manner of medicine it contained.
This proceeding being carried out, developed the fact that it contained several hard, shiny, yellowish, metallic, button-shaped “pills,” wrapped in paper, each containing the following strange inscription: