"Is it—is it as bad as that?" faltered his patient.
"Why, it isn't that at all!" hastened the 90Young Doctor with a sudden resumption of sagacity. "It's probably just a sort of rheumatism. What made me cry out so was just a mere funny coincidence. This particular kind of pain being a subject that I—that I—if I may say so—have been giving rather special attention to lately."
"Oh, then I trust that I have come to just the right person," smiled the dark eyes with a kindling surface-sweetness that seemed nevertheless quite frankly bereft of any special inner enthusiasm.
"We will certainly hope so!" flushed the Young Doctor. "How about this pain—?" he began quite abruptly.
"It hurts me when I eat," said the girl. Her voice was very low and soft and drawling. "And when I drink. And when I talk," she confided. "But especially when I sing."
"Oh, you sing?" questioned the Young Doctor.
"Yes!" said the girl. For the first time her classic, immobile little face was quick with a very modern emotion.
"Personally," confessed the Young Doctor, "I should like very much to try a little 91experiment on you if you don't mind. It will help me, even if it hurts you."
"As you wish," acquiesced the girl with the same imperturbable little smile.
From his precipitous retreat into the other room he returned after due delay with a plate of rusks and a steaming hot cup of coffee.