"McNab, I give you notice to leave my house at once."
"That is more like you, Mistress Campbell, but I'm not going out o' this house till the master says so. I am his hired woman, not yours, thank God! and I am not feared to speak the Holy Name, as you may well be. Here's the doctor—thank God again for that mercy! You had better leave the room, or you'll be getting the words you're well deserving, mistress."
"I shall stay just where I am."
"You're a dour woman; you are that."
Dr. Fleming entered as the last words were spoken. He brought with him an atmosphere of help and strength, and barely glancing at Mrs. Campbell he knelt down beside the sick woman. In a few moments he rose, and calling Jepson, ordered him to "go to No. 400 Renfrew Street, and bring back with him Jean Malcolm."
"I cannot spare Jepson, doctor," said Mrs. Campbell. "It is nearly time to serve dinner."
"Do as I tell you, man, and be off at once. Don't waste a moment. Take a cab."
"Doctor——"
"Mrs. Campbell, this is a serious case. We have no time to think of dinners. I fear there is a slight concussion of the brain."
Then turning to McNab, he said: "There must be a mattress brought down here, and I shall want two men to carry the patient upstairs. Have you men in the house?"