"Then wake him and say that I wish to see him," said Dan, enraged at this uncivil reception. "Don't close the door till you have delivered my message."
Somewhat startled by this determined bearing, so different to that of the meek Farbis folk, the surly Cerberus shuffled away, and returned in a few minutes with the information that the doctor would receive him in his study. Dan followed his guide, who led him into a dark apartment like a cell, and, pushing him in, the man shut the door as though to prevent his escape.
"Well, what is it?" said a querulous voice at the other end of the room. "Why do you come at this hour? Don't you know it is my time for sleeping?"
"Sleeping at three o'clock!" said Dan, with great astonishment.
There was a rustle in the darkness, and a little man came forward. He did not recognize the voice, but guessing from its refinement that his visitor was a gentleman, he pulled up the blind to see who had thus roused him. A pale light filtered in through the dirty windowpanes, and Dan saw before him a small and neatly made person clothed in a ragged dressing-gown and carpet slippers. He was still handsome, and not more than fifty years of age, but his waxen skin had an unhealthy appearance, as though in want of fresh air and sunlight. His black hair and beard, both streaked with grey, were dishevelled, and his brown eyes had a vacant expression, as though his thoughts were far away. Altogether he did not look the kind of man likely to cure a sick person. Dan towered above him, and as he considered the little figure and the darkened room, he was reminded of Stanley's account of the African pygmies in their sunless forest.
It took Dr. Merle some time to grasp the fact that his visitor was a stranger, and he peered curiously at him, with one little hand raking his untidy beard. So long did he look without speaking, that Dan felt rather embarrassed, and hardly knew how to begin a conversation. Merle saved him the trouble by speaking first.
"Who are you?" he asked, still in the same querulous voice. "What do you want here? Physic?"
"Never took a drop of physic in my life, sir," answered Dan, good-humouredly. "As to my name, it is Dan."
"Dan what?"
"Dan nothing," responded the other, with great coolness--"simply Dan. I am camping in the pinewood dell up yonder, and there I picked up this necklace. I think it belongs to your daughter."