"You don't mean it!" exclaimed Sam.
"Yes, sir, I do mean it." Ezra did mean it at the time he spoke, notwithstanding sentiments that he had previously expressed to the contrary.
"What'd I tell you, Sam?" said Alick, vauntingly, and turning to Ezra, added: "Sam, here, Mr. Tweedie, has been runnin' women folks down, and we told him it was because he wasn't married."
"And you were right, Alick; a man who is unmarried is not competent to judge women," Ezra replied.
"And a man that is married don't dare to," retorted Sam.
The entrance of Doctor Jones at that moment saved Sam from a severe tongue-lashing from the married men present.
The doctor was a jolly, generous soul who did twice as much work as he was paid for, and was loved and hated after the manner of all general practitioners of medicine. There were people in Manville who declared that Doctor Jones could work miracles, while others said that he was a butcher and a murderer; but men who have the courage to fight disease and death are not often disturbed or injured by the wagging of mischievous tongues.
"Well," said the doctor, as he sat down, "who is catching it to-night?"