CHAPTER II
DOCTOR HISSONG'S OFFICE
"So you are going to school, Shawn?"
"Yes, sir, I promised Mrs. Alden."
"That's the best promise you ever made, and to the best woman that God ever made."
Old Doctor Hissong sat in his big armchair, his spectacles tilted high on his nose as he looked at Shawn, who was leaning against the mantel-board. Old Brad, a negro who had been the doctor's servant for many years, sat in a hickory chair near the back door. Brad, aside from taking care of the doctor's office, gave some of his time to preaching, although it was a matter of some speculation as to whether his general habits warranted his ministerial fulfillments.
The old office was dingy with its medicine bottles ranging along the shelves, and cobwebs and dust were in evidence all about them. Over in the corner was a pair of saddlebags, and a pair of jean legging hung over a chair. In another corner was a tall book-case, the glass front broken out, and the books scattered about on the shelves. On the top of the book-case was an object which had long been a source of discomfort to Shawn and Brad—a grinning skull.
A doctor's office, in the old days, without a skull peering out from some hidden recess, was not considered complete—it contributed a kind of mysterious power to the man of medicine, and lent the impression that he had dipped deeply into the science of healing.
"Look at the slate, Shawn."