Mamma P. You may bring him in, Mary. [Maid turns to go, but finds Dr. Hardhack at her heels]
Mamma and Grandma P. [Gasp] Oh, Dr. Hardhack!
Aunt F. Oh, oh! We did not know you really had come!
Dr. Hardhack. Good morning, ladies. Couldn't stop to be formally announced. [Puts his hat absently in Aunt F's sewing-basket. Basket falls and all the things go tumbling out. Dr. H. does not notice]
Aunt F. [Simpers] Oh, oh! [Maid comes forward and assists Aunt F. in picking up things]
Dr. H. [Looks about circle] Which is my patient, please?
Mamma P. It is my daughter Emily. I will send for her. [To Maid] Mary, will you ask Miss Emily to come? [Exit Maid] Oh, Dr. Hardhack, before she comes I must say a word to you. [Dr. H. takes chair] We would be willing to found a water-cure, to hire a doctor on purpose, to try homeopathy or hydropathy or allopathy or any other pathy that ever was heard of if our dear elegant Emily could only be restored. It is her sensitive nature that wears upon her. She was never made for this world. She has an exquisiteness of perception that makes her feel even the creases in a rose leaf.
Dr. H. Stuff and folderol, my dear madam! [All start. Aunt F. gasps and simpers]
Mamma P. You are the nineteenth physician that has been called in to dear Emily.
Dr. H. Well, I hope that I may cut out number twenty! [Enter Emily very pale and listless] Oh, here comes the young lady herself. [Bows to Emily, which greeting E. very languidly returns] Humph! Let me look at her. [Puts up his glasses and looks through them] [E. stands supporting herself by table as though very weak] Humph! A fashionable potato sprout! Grown in a cellar! Not a drop of red blood in her veins!