"And allow you to go on experimenting?"
He saw that she hesitated. She was thinking that she need not tell him she had known such a one.
"Of course there are high-brows who set the standards for themselves and others pretty high, and if I acted, or failed to act, in violation of all recognized methods of procedure, and with fatal results, they might make me trouble. But you can bet," she finished with a grin, "the ethics of the profession have saved many a poor quack's hide."
"Quack?"
"Oh, they may have diplomas. A diploma doesn't mean so much in these days of cheap medical colleges where they grind 'em out by the hundreds; you need only know where to go and have the price."
"This is—illuminating." Symes wondered at her candor. She seemed very sure of her position with him, he thought.
"What difference does it make where your diploma's from to jays like these?" She waved her arm at Crowheart. "A little horse sense, a bold front, a hypodermic needle, and a few pills will put you a long way on your road among this class of people. I'm talkin' pretty free to an outsider, but," she looked at him significantly, "I know we can trust each other."
The implication irritated him, but he ignored it for the present.
"Do you mean to tell me," he demanded, "that there are medical schools where you can buy a diploma? Where anybody can get through?"
She laughed at his amazement.