“What’s the matter?” asked Roger, with an anxious quaver in his voice.
“Over-eating and worry,” answered the doctor, laconically.
“Is it bad?”
The doctor smiled. “We shouldn’t call it a very serious case.”
“I mean my heart,” faltered Roger.
“Your heart! Have you had trouble with your heart?”
“No-o, but my father has a bad heart, and I could hear mine beat awfully hard last night. I was afraid something was the matter with it.”
The doctor took up his instrument and again listened long and carefully. Roger could feel his breath come and go with hurried, uneven pace as the examination drew out. He was excited, anxious, shrinking from the truth yet eager to know the worst. It seemed ten minutes before the doctor folded up his stethoscope and returned it to his bag.
“What’s wrong with it?” demanded the boy, faintly, after waiting for some seconds for the doctor to speak.
“Nothing. It’s perfectly normal.”