But that did not trouble Madam greatly; she had her good, sure practice, and her skill brought her money and professional triumphs as well.
That part of the community which called Madam Speckbom was, of course, not the finest, but beyond comparison the most numerous. It might be that she had five or six patients lying under treatment in little nooks and closets of which there was an incredible number in the old house; and especially of an evening after working-hours, her time was all taken up with making her calls or receiving patients of all kinds.
And then when some one came among them, who had been under the treatment of the regular practitioner—district-physician Bentzen—then there was a sparkle in Madam Speckbom’s little brown eyes, and she tossed the three gray curls which hung from a comb over each ear, while she said: “When you come from so learned a gentleman, surely you can’t be helped by a toothless old woman.”
Then there was a course of maneuvering necessary before she sympathized with the patient; but once she had taken him under treatment, she showed a very especial concern for this one whom the regular doctor “had given up.”
And among the town’s people—even up among the higher classes—there were spread numberless accounts of Madam’s wonderful cures; and one had only to mention her name before Dr. Bentzen, and the old gentleman would jump up, swear and curse—grow fiery red about the head, seize his hat and make off.
The fact was, that when Dr. Bentzen came to common people, he never condescended to give any explanation—he despised their ignorance too deeply for that. He only said:
“You are to do this or that, and there is the medicine.”
But now, when the medicine did not help at once—and that can happen with the best of medicine—then the people grew tired of the high-priced druggist, and the harsh doctor who only turned on the floor, gave an order, and went away.
And then Madam Speckbom would come.
She would sit down and explain methodically what it was that ailed the patient—perhaps it might be some kind of fever, for example, “earth-fever,” or “water-fever,” or say, “body-fever,” or “a drop of blood which had stuck fast,” or some such thing.