Trevor Markfield nodded sympathetically as he moved towards the fire and extended his hands to the blaze.
“I'd have looked you up before, but it was only this morning I heard from someone that you were doing locum for old Carew. It's a bit out of your line, isn't it?”
“Carew's an old friend of ours; and when he went down with appendicitis he asked me in a hurry to look after his practice and I could hardly refuse. It's been an experience, of sorts. I haven't had two hours continuous sleep in the last five days, and I feel as if the next patient runs the risk of a free operation. I'm fit to bite him in the gizzard without anæsthetics.”
Markfield's stern features relaxed slightly.
“As bad as all that?” he asked.
“Oh, I don't mind real cases. But last night I was called out at two in the morning, when I'd just got back from a relapsed 'flu case. A small boy. ‘Dreadfully ill, doctor. Please come at once.’ When I got there, it was simply an acute case of over-stuffing. ‘It was his birthday, doctor, and of course we had to let him do as he liked on that day.’ By the time I'd got there, he'd dree'd his weird—quite empty and nothing whatever the matter with him. No apologies for dragging me out of bed, of course. A doctor isn't supposed to have a bed at all. I expect the next thing will be a fatal case of ingrowing toe-nails. It's a damned nuisance to have one's time frittered away on that sort of thing when one's at one's wits end to do what one can for people at the last gasp with something really dangerous.”
“Still got the notion that human life's valuable? The war knocked that on the head,” Markfield commented, rubbing his hands together to warm them. “Human life's the cheapest thing there is. It's a blessing I went over to the scientific side, instead of going in for physicking. I'd never have acquired a good sympathetic bedside manner.”
Dr. Ringwood made a gesture towards the decanter on the table.
“Have a spot?” he invited. “It's a miserable night.”
Markfield accepted the offer at once, poured out half a tumblerful of whisky, splashed in a very little soda, and drank off his glass with evident satisfaction. Putting down the tumbler, he moved across and sat down by the fire.