The Portland daily press., 1895-06-15

Ou eno utuor uduu, tu0r6 was muCn IN
the consulting room to please him.
Elaborate instruments seen more often
in hospitals than in the houses of pri-
vate practitioners were scattered about.
A sphygmograph stood upon the table
and gasometerlike engine, which was
new to DR.. Ripley, in the corner. A
bookcase full of ponderous volumes in
French and German, paper covered for
the most part and varying in tint from
the shell to the yolk Of a ducks egg.
caught his wandering eyes, and he was
deeply absorbed in their titles when the
door opened suddenly behind him. Turn
ing round, he found himself facing lit
tie woman, whose plain, palish face was
remarkable only for a pair of shrewd,
humorous eyes Of blue which had two
shades too much green in it. She held
pincenez in her left hand and the
doctors card in her right.
"How do you do, DR.. Ripley?" said
she.
'How do you do, madam" returned
the visitor. ''Your husband is perhaps
out?''
81 am not married, . said she simply
"Oh, I beg your pardonl I meant the
doctor-Dr. Verrinder Smith.
81 am Dr. Verrinder Smith. -
DR.. Ripley was SO surprised that he
dropped his hat and forgot to pick it up
again.
''Whatl' he gasped. ''The Lee Hop
kins prize mani You?" He had never
seen woman doctor before, and his
whole conservative soul rose up in re-
volt at the idea He could not recall
any Biblical injunction that the man
should remain ever the doctor and the
woman the nurse, and yet he felt as if
'blasphemy had been committed. His
face betrayed his feelings only too
clearly.
II am sorry to disappoint you, said
the lady dryly.
"You certainly have surprised me, !"
he answered, picking up his hat.
You are not among our champions
then?'
II cannot say that the movement
has my approval"
And why?"
81 should much prefer not to discuss
it."
'But am sure you will answer a
lady's question" 49
Ladies are in danger of losing their
privileges when they usurp the place Of
the other sex. They cannot claim BOTH -
"Why should a woman not earn her
bread by her brains?'' e
DR.. Ripley felt irritated by the quiet
manner in which the lady cross ques-
toned him.
81 should much prefer not to be led
into discussion, Miss Smith"
CDR Smith," she interrupted.
"Well, DR.. SMITH But if you insist
upon an answer must say that do
not think medicine a suitable profession
for women, and that I have personal
objection to masculine ladies'" It was
an exceedingly rude speech, and he was
ashamed of it the instant after he had
made it. The lady, however, simply
raised her eyebrows and smiled.
1T seems to me that you are begging
the question, said She "Of course, if
it makes women masculine, that would
be considerable deterioration.
1t was neat little counter, and DR..
Ripley, like pinked fencer, bowed his
acknowledgment. II must go, said he
81 am sorry that we cannot come to
some more friendly conclusion, since
we are to be neighbors," she remarked.
He bowed again and took step to-
ward the door.
1t was singular coincidence" she
continued, ''that at the instant that you
called was reading your papor on 'Lo-
comotor Ataxia' in The Lancet. -
''Indeed, said he dlyly.
81 Thoughts it was very'a mono.
graph
''You are very good"
sfBut the views which you attribute
to Professor Pitres of Bordeaux have
been repudiated by him."
81 have his pamphlet Of $780," said
DR.. Ripley angrily.
"Here is his pamphlet of 1891" She
picked it from among litter of period.
icals. eff you have time to glance you,
eye down this passage
DR.. Ripley took it from her and shot
rapidly through the paragraph which
she indicated. There was no denying
that it completely knocked the bottom
out of his own article. He threw il
down, and with another frigid bow he
made for the door. AS he took the reins
from the groom he glanced round and
saw that the lady was standing at her
window, and it seemed to him that she
was laughing heartily.
All day the memory of this interview
haunted him. He felt that he had come
very badly out Of it. She had shown
herself to be his superior on his own pei
subject. She had been courteous while
he had been ruds, self possessed when he
had been angry. And then, above all,
there was hor presence, her monstrous
intrusion, to rankle in his mind. A wo.
man doctor had been an abstract thing
before, repugnant, but distant. Now she
was there in actual practice, with q
brass plate up just like his own, com.
peting for the same patients. Not that
he feared the competition, but he OBJ