"I am the doctor—the county physician—Dr. Tromfszky. Pray, Herr Count, let me see your tongue."
Instead of his tongue, the count exhibited a powerful fist.
"What do you want here? Who brought you here?" he demanded.
"Pray, pray be calm, Herr Count," soothingly responded the doctor, who was inclined to look upon this aggressive exhibition as a result of the fever. "Allow me to examine your pulse. We have here a slight paroxysm that requires medical aid. Come, let me feel your pulse; one, two—"
The count snatched his wrist from the doctor's grasp, and cried angrily:
"But I don't need a doctor, or any medicine. There is nothing at all the matter with me. I don't want anything from you, but to know who brought you here."
"Beg pardon," retorted the offended doctor. "I was summoned, and came through this dreadful storm. I was told that the Herr Count was seriously ill."
"Who said so? Henry?" demanded the count, rising on one knee.
Henry did not venture to move or speak.
"Did you fetch this doctor, Henry?" again demanded the invalid, with expanded nostrils, panting with fury.