New Britain herald., 1922-03-10
The Question .le Doctor Asked Madse

The Question tl,e Doctor Asked Madsc
 The rotund liItle house physician Of the hotel listened with an admirable air Of professional sol!citudo to my story of the accident which had re- suited in so bizarre discolorution of my forehead and eye, be, q sudden upward glance at him revealed 10 me that he was weighing mo and my story. and l felt fierce little throb Of unjust resentment at the discovery
 That he accepted the tale as truth fIi. however, l soon reaIized-al- trough was hardly prepared for his comment.
 "It must have been n terrifying eN- pcriencc--I understand yoU were t'aveing alone" he said casually
 Naturally had made no allusion to the mysterious foreigner who had forced his companionship upon mr with the plea of being my fathers friend. But the dappcr little doctors question brought the distinguished personality of the man whom l had eiuded so forcibly to my mind, that had hard work to make my reply as casual as his comment.
 You could hardly call it travelling Dr. McDermott," l said, as at tempted a smile, then, remembering how ghastly the effort must appear, hurried on with my chatter, 'I simply ran in from the east end of the island for day or two, and was ca.1ht in that crush in the station And it was a terrifying experience, but people were most kind. I was
 tl. room, and the matron took care of me until I was able to take q taxi over here.
 The physician shook his head dis approvinsly
 You should not have made the journey here alone after being stunned by that blow" he said You might have swooned again. But now you are here" he went on more briskly. You must not think of roing out again today, or indeed to- morrow"
 ''is the injury then so ser!ous?" l asked in alarm. T thought the in- convenience of a black eye was the worst l had to expect
 ''So it is. so it is." He rubbed his plump, well-kept hands together. But the shock could not hip but be severe-fron q blow hard enough to knock you unconscious even if it were for only few seconds and you must have rest and quiete."
 {. He put an exploring delicate fore finger OF the discolored surface again.
 This is going to be quite painful he said, stepping to the adjoining l.. II. hn h,,, water faucet. And l am afraid that you will have neither strength nor in- clination for the work. oT attending to it. Have you no woman friend iU the city who could come to you for forty eight hours? It would be absurd to have a trained nurse and yet, you really should not be alone"
 a'5 Dr. McDernott's Advice.
 s-sI shook my head decidedly. There were only three women in the world beside Katie and my mother-in-Iaw of whom l would ask such favor Lillian, Katherine and little Mir. Dur Kee. The fist two, of course, were out of the question, and while knew well that it only required a word of my need over the telephone to bring Her Flufiness' flying in from her Marvin home, yet l could not-would not~-speak A1at word.
 Not that 1 minded the friendly eyes of my little neighhor, even with the touch of amused malice with which l knew she would view my accident 1}i:t her knowledge would inevitably mean that of Edith Fairfax also. In au probability. Edith herself would in tn if for of hnr reason than to appear properly, so- lictous for Dicky's wife. And knew cf no other eyes from whose critical and amused scrutiny l should shrink mere sensitively than from those of the woman whose unrequted affection for my husband l had known from her own lip long ago.
 "All my friends are away from the city, l said.
 Dr McDcrmott brought soft Eauze atI basin of hot water and laid . tt. aming cloth upon the bruised flesh.
 Then we must subsidZe one of the maids" he said. " think l can ar- range with the housckeeper to have onp Of them come in here at tho necessary intervals 10 do this for you"
 He finished his ihnistrations and tlon wrote a prescription which he retained in his hand
 D;cAy Arrives.
 II will have this sent Up, he said. "and you viii please take it accord iur to directions. And 1 will look in upon you for a minute before you z, to bad, or, rather, to sleep for the night For I wish you to go to bed at once. ] will send the maid in to relo you undrcss. Rest is what you principally require"
 j,p bowed himself out, and d few minutes later the maid appeared l She was stclid stupid sort, whose |