“I will suggest it, Miss Polly, and thank you! Even his mother could hardly be gladder than I to see Doodles walk. I’ll talk it over with them.”
The talk bore such good fruits that an examination was arranged for on the following Monday, and Doodles spent Sunday in a state of bliss. God was surely answering his prayers—He was going to let him walk! Next morning he bade his mother and Blue an early good-bye, his face radiant with joy.
The hour appointed was three in the afternoon, and Dorothy and Doodles were waiting at a front window when Mr. Gaylord drove up. On the way the boy wondered for the hundredth time how Dr. Dudley would look, if he would wear epaulets, like the doctor at Hotel Royal, and whether he would hurt him very, very much, or simply pass his hand up and down his back, as the other doctor did.
“They are building a new hospital, or rather Mrs. Gresham is,” Dorothy told him; “it is to be exclusively for children. In the meantime Dr. Dudley is receiving patients in the house where he lives, but he cannot accommodate many. I am glad you could get in so soon. You will like the Doctor; everybody does.”
Doodles wondered if he were as nice as Polly. And then, before he had time to ask, they whirled through a gateway and up to a door.
To the surprise of the little lad Dr. Dudley was a young man, and instead of a gay uniform he wore a short white coat—without epaulets. But Doodles liked him, just as Dorothy had said—his voice, his manner, his smile. In fact, as soon as the Doctor took his hand his faith rose to the joy point. He could not be thankful enough that he had “kept on.”
The examination was very different from the one at Hotel Royal. Several times the physician’s gentle fingers caused sharp pain; but the lad shut his teeth hard, and did not flinch.
“Have you never had any treatment?” Dr. Dudley asked,—“massage, rubbing, or the like?”
“Only what mother does,” Doodles answered. “She always rubs me every night, and in the morning when she has time.”
“I thought so,” he nodded. “Your legs are in better condition than legs generally are when they have not been used for so long.”