The doctor’s voice bore once again its note of pity. “Your husband died of it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“He took no care of himself?”
“No, sir.”
“And was not that a warning to you?”
“Doctor,” the woman replied, “I would ask nothing better than to come as often as you told me, but the cost is too great.”
“How—what cost? You were coming to my free clinic.”
“Yes, sir,” replied the woman, “but that’s during working hours, and then it is a long way from home. There are so many sick people, and I have to wait my turn, It is in the morning—sometimes I lose a whole day—and then my employer is annoyed, and he threatens to turn me off. It is things like that that keep people from coming, until they dare not put it off any longer. Then, too, sir—” the woman stopped, hesitating.
“Well,” demanded the doctor.
“Oh, nothing, sir,” she stammered. “You have been too good to me already.”