And then—"Ah!"
He straightened his back and beamed down on Herman Medfield from behind the spectacles.
"All right—am I?" asked Medfield.
"You'll be all right—in three or four days," responded Dr. Carmon, with his round, successful diagnosis smile.
"You won't have to operate?" Medfield's face lighted.
"Operate—? Oh—! Yes—I shall operate." The doctor spoke absently. It was the tone of one to whom it could never occur not to operate. "I shall operate. It's fine!"
"Better than you thought?" asked Medfield hopefully.
The doctor's absent-minded gaze broke. He smiled. "Worse! Much worse than I thought. You could not live three months—as you are."
Herman Medfield sat up.
Dr. Carmon surveyed him proudly. "And in three months you'll be a new man—made over—top to toe!"