"Mrs. Earlforward? Is he married, then?"
"Oh, yes, sir. He married Mrs. Arb, as was; she kept that confectioner's shop opposite in the Steps. But she sold it. And I'm the servant, sir, now. It'll soon be a year ago, sir."
"Really, really! All right. I'll look in—some time before six. Tell them I'll look in."
"Well, sir," said Elsie, hesitating and blushing very red, "missis didn't exactly send me, in a manner of speaking. She says master won't have a doctor, she says. But I was thinking if you could——"
"Do you mean to say you've come up here to tell me about your master and mistress without orders?"
"Well, sir——"
"But—but—but—but—but," Dr. Raste spluttered with the utmost rapidity, startled for once out of his inhuman imperturbability by this monstrous act of Elsie's. He had no child nor dog now. He was the medico chemically pure. "Did you suppose that I can come like that without being called in? I never heard of such a thing. What next, I wonder?"
"He's very bad, sir, master is."
The slim little man stood up threateningly against Elsie's mighty figure.
"What do I care? If people need a doctor, they must send for him."