"This," I said to myself at the third knock, "has torn it. I shall be ploughed," and I sent an urgent message to my chest. "For "eving"s sake do something, you fool. Can"t you hear the gentleman?" I suppose that roused it, for at the next knock he pa.s.sed on to an adjacent spot....
"Um," he said when he called everywhere, "um."
"I wonder what I"ve done," I thought to myself. "I don"t believe he likes my chest."
Without a word he got out his stethoscope and began to listen to me. As luck would have it, he struck something interesting almost at once, and for what seemed hours he stood there listening and listening to it. But it was boring for me, because I really had very little to do. I could have bitten him in the neck with some ease ... or I might have licked his ear. Beyond that, nothing seemed to offer.
I moistened my lips and spoke.
"Am I dying?" I asked in a broken voice.
"Don"t talk," he said. "Just breathe naturally."
"I am dying," I thought, "and he is hiding it from me." It was a terrible reflection.
"Um," he said, and moved on.
By-and-by he went and listened behind my back. It is very bad form to listen behind a person"s back. I did not tell him so however. I wanted him to like me.
"Yes," he said. "Now cough."
"I haven"t a cough," I pointed out.
"Make the noise of coughing," he said severely.
Extremely nervous, I did my celebrated imitation of a man with an irritating cough.
"H"m! h"m! h"m! h"m!"
"Yes," said the doctor. "Go on."
"He likes it," I said to myself, "and he must obviously be an excellent judge. I shall devote more time to mimicry in future. H"m! h"m! h"m!..."
The doctor came round to where I could see him again.
"Now cough like this," he said. "Honk! Honk!"
I gave my celebrated imitation of a sick rhinoceros gasping out its life. It went well. I got an encore.
"Um," he said gravely, "um." He put his stethoscope away and looked earnestly at me.
"Tell me the worst," I begged. "I"m not bothering about this stupid insurance business now. That"s off, of course. But--how long have I? I must put my affairs in order. Can you promise me a week?"
He said nothing. He took my wrists in his hands and pressed them. It was evident that grief over-mastered him and that he was taking a silent farewell of me. I bowed my head. Then, determined to bear my death-sentence like a man, I said firmly, "So be it," and drew myself away from him.
However, he wouldn"t let me go.
"Come, come," I said to him, "you must not give way," and I made an effort to release one of my hands meaning to pat him encouragingly on the shoulder.
He resisted....
I realised suddenly that I had mistaken his meaning, and that he was simply feeling my pulses.
"Um," he said, "um," and continued to finger my wrists.
Clenching my teeth, and with the veins staring out on my forehead, I worked my pulses as hard as I could.
"Ah," he said, as I finished tying my tie; and he got up from the desk where he had been making notes of my disastrous case, and came over to me. "There is just one thing more. Sit down."
I sat down.
"Now cross your knees."
I crossed my knees. He bent over me and gave me a sharp tap below the knee with the side of his hand.
My chest may have disappointed him.... He may have disliked my back....
Possibly I was a complete failure with my pulses.... But I knew the knee-trick.
This time he should not be disappointed.
I was taking no risks. Almost before his hand reached my knee, my foot shot out and took him fairly under the chin. His face suddenly disappeared.
"I haven"t got _that_ disease," I said cheerily.
x.x.xIV. GETTING THE NEEDLE
He was a pale, enthusiastic young man of the name of Simms; and he held forth to us at great length about his latest hobby.
"Now I"ll just show you a little experiment," he wound up, "one that I have never known to fail. First of all I want you to hide a needle somewhere, while I am out of the room. You must stick it where it can be seen--on a chair--or on the floor if you like. Then I shall come back blindfolded and find it."
"Oh, Mr. Simms!" we all said.
"Now, which one of you has the strongest will?"
We pushed Jack forward. Jack is at any rate a big man.
"Very well. I shall want you to take my hand when I come in, and look steadily at the needle--concentrate all your thoughts on it. I, on the other hand, shall make my mind a perfect blank. Then your thoughts will gradually pa.s.s into my brain, and I shall feel myself as it were, dragged in the direction of the needle."
"And I shall feel myself, as it were, dragged after you?" said Jack.
"Yes; you mustn"t put any strain on my arm at all. Let me go just where I like, only _will_ me to go in the right direction. Now then."
He took out his handkerchief, put it hastily back, and said: "First I shall want to borrow a handkerchief or something."