“You have some of the drug, of course?”
Again there was a pause. “No, madam, I fear that I have not.”
I winced, involuntarily. I could not hide my distress. “Dr. Perrin,” I exclaimed, “you came to attend a confinement case, and you omitted to provide something so essential!”
There was nothing left of the little man’s affability now. “In the first place,” he said, “I must remind you that I did not come to attend a confinement case. I came to look after Mrs. van Tuiver’s condition up to the time of confinement.”
“But you knew there would always be the possibility of an accident!”
“Yes, to be sure.”
“And you didn’t have any nitrate of silver!”
“Madam,” he said, stiffly, “there is no use for this drug except in one contingency.”
“I know,” I cried, “but it is an important precaution. It is the practice to use it in all maternity hospitals.”
“Madam, I have visited hospitals, and I think I know something of what the practice is.”