I"ve seen you hit by the window many"s the time, only your head was so full of studies you never noticed."
"Thank you, I have no time this evening, I fear--"
"Time? It won"t take any--it"s right the end of this block. You can"t do any studyin" before supper-time, anyhow, because it"s near that now. I got something for you there."
They turned into Stark"s, a brilliantly-lit and prettily appointed little shop with a big soda-water plant at the front. To a white-coated boy who lounged upon the fount, Klinker spoke winged words, and the next moment Queed found himself drinking a foaming, tingling, hair-trigger concoction under orders to put it all down at a gulp.
They were seated upon a bench of oak and leather upholstery, with an enormous mirror reproducing their back views to all who cared to see.
Klinker was chewing a tooth-pick; and either a tooth-pick lasted him a long time, or the number he made away with in a year was simply stupendous.
"Ever see a gymnasier, Doc?"
No; it seemed that the Doc had not.
"We got one here. There"s a big spare room behind the shop. Kind of a store-room it was, and the Mercuries have fitted it up as a gymnasier and athletic club. Only they"re dead ones and don"t use it much no more.
Got kind of a fall this afternoon, didn"t you, Doc?"
"What makes you think that?"
"That eye you got. She"ll be a beaut to-morrow--skin"s broke too. A bit of nice raw beefsteak clapped on it right now would do the world and all for it."
"Oh, it is of no consequence--"
"You think nothing about your body is consequence, Doc, that only your mind counts, and that"s just where you make your mistake. Your body"s got to carry your mind around, and if it lays down on you, what--"
"But I have no intention of letting my body lie down on me, as you put it, Mr. Klinker. My health is sound, my const.i.tution--"
"Forget it, Doc. Can"t I look at you and see with my own eyes? You"re committing slow suicide by over-work. That"s what it is."
"As it happens, I am doing nothing of the sort. I have been working exactly this way for twelve years."
"Then all the bigger is the overdue bill nature"s got against you, and when she does. .h.i.t you she"ll hit to kill. Where"ll your mind and your studies be when we"ve planted your body down under the sod?"
Mr. Queed made no reply. After a moment, preparing to rise, he said: "I am obliged to you for that drink. It is rather remarkable--"
"Headache all gone, hey?"
"Almost entirely. I wish you would give me the name of the medicine. I will make a memorandum--"
"Nix," said Klinker.
"Nix? Nux I have heard of, but ..."
"Hold on," laughed Klinker, as he saw Queed preparing to enter Nix in his note-book. "That ain"t the name of it, and I ain"t going to give it to you. Why, that slop only covers up the trouble, Doc--does more harm than good in the long run. You got to go deeper and take away the cause.
Come back here and I"ll show you your real medicine."
"I"m afraid--"
"Aw, don"t flash that open-faced clock of yours on me. That"s your trouble, Doc--matching seconds against your studies. It won"t take a minute, and you can catch it up eating supper faster if you feel you got to."
Queed, curious, as well as decidedly impressed by Klinker"s sure knowledge in a field where he was totally ignorant, was persuaded. The two groped their way down a long dark pa.s.sage at the rear of the shop, and into a large room like a cavern. Klinker lit a flaring gas-jet and made a gesture.
"The Mercury Athletic Club gymnasier and sporting-room."
It was a bas.e.m.e.nt room, with two iron-grated windows at the back. Two walls were lined with stout shelves, partially filled with boxes. The remaining s.p.a.ce, including wall-s.p.a.ce, was occupied by the most curious and puzzling contrivances that Queed had ever seen. Out of the glut of enigmas there was but one thing--a large mattress upon the floor--that he could recognize without a diagram.
"Your caretaker sleeps here, I perceive."
Klinker laughed. "Look around you, Doc. Take a good gaze."
Doc obeyed. Klinker picked up a "sneaker" from the floor and hurled it with deadly precision at a weight-and-pulley across the room.
"There"s your medicine, Doc!"
Orange-stick in mouth, he went around like a museum guide, introducing the beloved apparatus to the visitor under its true names and uses, the chest-weights, dumb-*bells and Indian clubs, flying-rings, a rowing-machine, the horizontal and parallel bars, the punching-bag and trapeze. Klinker lingered over the ceremonial; it was plain that the gymnasier was very dear to him. In fact, he loved everything pertaining to bodily exercise and manly sport; he caressed a boxing-glove as he never caressed a lady"s hand; the smell of witch-hazel on a hard bare limb was more t.i.tillating to him than any intoxicant. The introduction over, Klinker sat down tenderly on the polished seat of the rowing-machine, and addressed Doctor Queed, who stood with an academic arm thrown gingerly over the horizontal bar.
"There"s your medicine, Doe. And if you don"t take it--well, it may be the long good-by for yours before the flowers bloom again."
"How do you mean, Mr. Klinker--there is my medicine?"
"I mean, you need half an hour to an hour"s hardest kind of work right here every day, reg"lar as meals."
Queed started as though he had been stung. He cleared his throat nervously.
"No doubt that would be beneficial--in a sense, but I cannot afford to take the time from My Book--"
"That"s where you got it dead wrong. You can"t afford not to take the time. Any doctor"ll tell you the same as me, that you"ll never finish your book at all at the clip you"re hitting now. You"ll go with nervous prostration, and it"ll wipe you out like a fly. Why, Doc," said Klinker, impressively, "you don"t realize the kind of life you"re leading--all indoors and sedentary and working twenty hours a day. I come in pretty late some nights, but I never come so late that there ain"t a light under your door. A man can"t stand it, I tell you, playing both ends against the middle that away. You got to pull up, or it"s out the door feet first for you."
Queed said uneasily: "One important fact escapes you, Mr. Klinker. I shall never let matters progress so far. When I feel my health giving way--"
"Needn"t finish--heard it all before. They think they"re going to stop in time, but they never do. Old prostration catches "em first every crack. You think an hour a day exercise would be kind of a waste, ain"t that right? Kind of a dead loss off"n your book and studies?"
"I certainly do feel--"
"Well, you"re wrong. Listen here. Don"t you feel some days as if mebbe you could do better writing and harder writing if only you didn"t feel so mean?"
"Well ... I will frankly confess that sometimes--"
"Didn"t I know it! Do you know what, Doc? If you knocked out a little time for reg"lar exercise, you"d find when bedtime came, that you"d done better work than you ever did before."
Queed was silent. He had the most logical mind in the world, and now at last Klinker had produced an argument that appealed to his reason.
"I"ll put it to you as a promise," said Klinker, eyeing him earnestly.
"One hour a day exercise, and you do more work in twenty-four hours than you"re doing now, besides feelin" one hundred per cent better all the time."
Still Queed was silent. _One hour a day!_
"Try it for only a month," said Klinker the Tempter.