"Hang it," thought Donald, "I forgot all about that fool story, or I wouldn't have given it to her." But she was already reading the brief article aloud, slowly but with appreciatory expression.
EXCEPTIONAL FEE PAID BOSTON DOCTOR
Dr. Donald MacDonald Operates on Multi-Millionaire's
Child
What is rumored to have been one of the biggest fees paid to a physician in recent years, was received lately by the brilliant young children's specialist of this city, Dr. Donald MacDonald.
A few weeks ago he was summoned to Newport in consultation with local and New York physicians over the five-year-old daughter of J. Bentley Moors, the millionaire copper king, and finally saved the child's life by performing successfully one of the most difficult operations known to surgery—the removal of a brain tumor.
The child had already totally lost the power of speech, and had sunk into a comatose state, the operation being performed at Dr. MacDonald's suggestion as a final desperate resort.
His associates on the case are unstinted in their praise of his skill, and declare that few other surgeons in America could have carried it through with any hope of success.
The child was completely cured, and in his gratitude her father sent the young doctor a check which—it is said—represented an amount larger than many men earn in a lifetime.
"What does 'comatose' mean, Doctor Mac?" asked Smiles.
"It means a condition during which the body appears to be lifeless. A tumor is a growth—in that particular case here, inside the skull, which pressed on the child's brain, paralyzing, or shutting off, all the senses."