“I have come to you, doctor, instead of sending for you,” began the lady, “because I do not wish Mr. Waldorf to know I have thought it necessary to consult you. He is so easily alarmed, that if he knew you had prescribed for me he would watch me so closely and insist so much upon my observance of your directions to the very letter, that I should have no peace.”
The doctor smiled, as if he thought Mr. Waldorf would not be so far wrong as his lady might suppose.
“But what is it, my dear madam?” he said, taking Mrs. Waldorf’s hand and giving a look of professional scrutiny to her face. “You look well, though there is a slight flaccidity about the eyes, and not quite so ruddy a nether lip as one might wish to see. What is it?”
“Oh! a thousand things, doctor; my health is miserable—at least I sometimes think so; I have pains in the right side—and such flutterings at my heart—and such lassitude—and such headaches—and sleep so miserably—”
“Are your pains very severe? are they of a heavy, dull kind, or sharp and darting? and how often do you experience them?”
“They are not very constant—no, not constant, certainly, nor very severe—but, doctor, they fill me with apprehensions of future evil. It is not present suffering of which I complain, so much as a fear of worse to come. I dread lest disease should make such progress, unnoticed, that it will be vain to attempt a cure.” And Mrs. Waldorf’s eyes filled with tears at the very thought of her troubles.
“You are wise to take it in time,” said Doctor R——. “But tell me more of these symptoms. At what time of the day do you generally feel most indisposed?”
“Oh! I can scarcely say. When I wake in the morning, I am always very miserable. My head is full of dull pain, especially about the eyes. My lips are parched; I find it a great exertion to dress myself, and never have the slightest appetite for breakfast.”
“Ah! indeed!” mused the doctor, “you breakfast as soon as you arise, I presume. At what hour do you retire?”
“We make it a rule to be in bed by twelve, unless we happen to be engaged out, which is but seldom. Waldorf detests parties and late hours. We spend our evenings with music or books, very quietly.”