News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1895-07-25
Th6 DOCJOrS Of {IOuIanO
By A. CONAN DOYLE.
[Copyrlght. lea5, by De Author.l

of Hampshire, and all was ready for him
on the very first day that the law al
lowed him to put his name at the foot of
prescription. In few years the old
gentleman retired and settled on the
South coast, leaving his son in undis-
puted possession of the whole country
side. Save for DR.. Horton, near Bas-
ingstol1e, the young surgeon had clear
run of six miles in every direction and
took his 81, 500 year, though as is
usual in country practices the stable
swallowed up most of what the consult
ing room earned.
DR.. James Ripley was two and thirty
years of age, reserved, learned, unmar-
ried, with set, rather stern features and
thinning Of the dark hair upon the top
of his head, which was worth quite
hundred a year to him. He was par
ticularly happy in his management Of
ladies' He had caught the tone of bland
sternness and decisive suavity which
dominates without offending. Ladies,
however, were not equally happy in
their management of him. Profession
ally he was always at their service. So
cially he was drop of quicksilver. In
vain the country mammas spread out
their simple lures in front of him.
Dances and picnics were not to his taste,
and he preferred during his scanty lei
sure to shut himself up in his study and
bury himself in Virohow's Archives"
and the professional journals.
Study was a passion with him, and
L a 1iot,
often gathers round country practi-
toner. 1t was his ambition to keep his
knowledge as fresh and bright as at the
moment when he stepped out of the ex-
animation hall. He prided himself on
being able at a moments notice to rat
tie off the seven ramifcations of some
obscure artery or to give the exact per-
centage of any physiological compound.
After a long day work he would sit up
half the night performing iridectomies
and extractions upon the sleeps eyes
sent in by the village butcher, to the
horror of his housekeeper, who had to
remove the debris next morning. His
love for his work was the one fanaticism
which found place i'll his dry, precise
nature.
It was the more to his credit that he
should keep up to date in his knowledge,
since he had no competition to force him
to exertion. In the seven years during
which he had practiced in Hoyland three
rivals had pitted themselves against
him, two i'll the village itself and one
in the neighboring hamlet of Lower
Hoyland. OF these one had sickened
Z and wasted, being, as it was said, him
self the only patient whom he had treat
ed during his IS months Of ruralizing,
A second had bought fourth share Of
q Basingstoko practice and had departed
honorably, while third had vanished
one September night leaving Quilted
house and an unpaid drug bill behind
him. Since then the district had be-
come a monopoly, and no one had dared
to measure himself against the estab-
lished fame Of the Hoyland doctor.
1t was, then, with feeling of some
surprise and considerable curiosity that
on driving through Lower Hoyland one
morning he perceived that tho new
house at the end of the village was &C.
cupied, and that q virgin brass plate
glistened upon the swinging gate which
faced the highroad. He pulled up his
so guinea chestnut mare and took q
good look at it. "Verrinder Smith, M.
d. was printed across it in very neat,
small lettering. The last man had had
lettering half foot long with lamp
like fire station. DR.. James Ripley
noted the difference and deduced from
it that the newcomer might possibly
prove a more formidable opponent He
was convinced of it that evening when
he came to consult his medical direc.
tory. By it he learned that DIR. Yer.
rinder Smith was the holder Of superb
degrees; that he had studied with dis.
tinction at Edinburgh, Paris, Berlin
and Vienna, and finally that he had beer
awarded gold medal and the Lee Hop
kins scholarship for original research in
recognition of an exhaustive inquiry
into the functions of the anterior spina,
nerve roots DR.. Ripley passed his fin
gers through his thin hair in bewilder
ment as he read his rivals record
What on earth could SO brilliant a mar
mean by putting up his plate in littl;
Hampshire hamlet?
But DIR. Ripley furnished himselt
with an explanation to the riddle. M
doubt Dr. Verrinder Smith had simply
come down there in order to pursue
some scientific research in peace an(
quiet. The plate was up as an address
rather than as an invitation to patients
OF course that must be the true explana
ton. In that case the presence of thi
brilliant neighbor would be a splendid
thing for his own studies. He had of
ten longed for some kindred mind, SOM
steel on which he might strike his flint
Chance had brought it to him, and h
rejoiced exceedingly.
And this joy it was which led him t
take step which was quite at varianc
with his usual habits. 1t is the custom
for newcomer among medical men t
call first upon the older, and the Ell
quette upon the subject is strict. Dr
Ripley was pedantically exact on sue
points, and yet he deliberately drov
over next day and called upon DIR. Yer
rinder Smith. Such waving Of cei
emory was, he felt, gracious act upo
his part and fit prelude to tbs init
mate relations which he hoped to estat
Itch with his neiohbOr