"I—I thought that Mrs. Drayton was——well, not quite straightforward."
"That has nothing whatever to do with it. If we medical men are to judge of a patient's condition because we like or dislike their relations there is an end of everything," Doctor Plunkett said severely; "surely a case must be judged on its own merits?"
"Of course, sir, of course. My wife, sir——"
Doctor Plunkett looked at him in amazement.
"You do not mean to say, sir," he said, in a tone of cutting contempt, "that you allow your wife to dictate to you upon a subject she can know nothing about?"
Doctor Jones felt utterly crushed.
When Doctor Plunkett was leaving the room the unhappy little man got near him and said, in a tone of abject entreaty,
"I do trust, sir, that, if you have conceived an unfavourable opinion of me in this matter, you—will—perhaps, sir, you will not speak of it anywhere. It would ruin me, sir, in the eyes of my wife."
"Sir," said Mr. Plunkett, "we medical men are supposed to stand by each other, but a man who is in subjection to his wife has no business to be a doctor, in my opinion." He added, "I think a henpecked man is an error in existence. I do not think he has any right to exist at all," and he left Dr. Jones to digest this speech as best he could.
It was getting much warmer, though the spring was not yet far on: That wonderful promise of a coming fulness, which is one of the great charms of spring, made itself felt, but as yet the days were not long, and Grace, impatient and restless, wanted Margaret to know what had passed; she wished her to know she was free.