DOCTOR: It's my business, too. If you want that baby to live, you'd best look sharp and feed him. Get sober. I can't cure the baby. The only person who can cure him is yourself. And to do that you must leave off getting drunk. You must eat some decent food. You're living on alcohol at present. No baby can be nourished on gin and stout.
FEMALE: S'elp me Gawd, Doctor—s'elp me Gawd, young man, if I die this minute—s'elp me Gawd I ain't 'ad only two 'arf-pints since yisterday. I take them a-purpose for the boy's own sake, young man. 'E don't seem to fancy it, some'ow, unless I 'as me drop o' stout. See what I mean, Doctor? I takes what I do for the baby's own sake: 'e will 'ave it, bless 'is little 'eart.
V
THE HYPOCRITES
During a lull in the sixpenny battle Dr. Brink held parley with me, standing on the seat of his official chair and peering through the top of his consulting-room window. "Are you comfortable on that gas-stove?" inquired the learned doctor.
"The gas-stove," I said, "is very well; but—er—comfort, you know, is not exactly the word. It—it—I say, you know, that woman with the dying baby was rather quaint."
"This," said the doctor, "is a quaint sort of gas-stove. We often roast chaps on it. Do you like beer?"
"Not much," I answered, "but my brother plays the flute."
"Because," pursued my host, ignoring this effort at repartee, "my consultations are nearly over for this morning, and then I am going my round, and that is a short one, and I shall be back here by one o'clock, and after that I propose to brew some beer. Would you like to help me?"
The proposition was not without a certain suddenness, but I was getting used to this household, and did not betray my surprise. Also, I accepted the invitation.