xteen," he said to the woman who had
come in to 'see her through.'

She had given her age as eighteen on the card, but when they were very
young they often put on a year or two. Also she was pretty, which was rare
in those classes in which the constitution has been undermined by bad
food, bad air, and unhealthy occupations; she had delicate features and
large blue eyes, and a mass of dark hair done in the elaborate fashion of
the coster girl. She and her husband were very nervous.

"You'd better wait outside, so as to be at hand if I want you," Philip
said to him.

Now that he saw him better Philip was surprised again at his boyish air:
you felt that he should be larking in the street with the other lads
instead of waiting anxiously for the birth of a child. The hours passed,
and it was not till nearly two that the baby was born. Everything seemed
to be going satisfactorily; the husband was called in, and it touched
Philip to see the awkward, shy way in which he kissed his wife; Philip
packed up his things. Before going he felt once more his patient's pulse.

"Hulloa!" he said.

He looked at her quickly: something had happened. In cases of emergency
the S. O. C.--senior obstetric clerk--had to be sent for; he was a
qualified man, and the 'district' was in his charge. Philip scribbled a
note, and giving it to the husband, told him to run with it to the
hospital; he bade him hurry, for his wife was in a dangerous state. The
man set off. Philip waited anxiously; he knew the woman was bleeding to
death; he was afraid she would die before his chief arrived; he took what
steps he could. He hoped fervently that the S. O. C. would not have been
called elsewhere. The minutes were interminable. He came at last, and,
while he examined the patient, in a low voice asked Philip questions.
Philip saw by his face that he thought the case very grave. His name was
Chandler. He was a tall man of few words, with a long nose and a thin face
much lined for his age. He shook his head.

"It was hopeless from the beginning. Where's the husband?"

"I told him to wait on the stairs," said Philip.

"You'd better bring him in."

Philip opened the door and called him. He was sitting in the dark on the
first step of the flight that led to the next floor. He came up to the
bed.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Why, there's internal bleeding. It's impossible to stop it." The S. O. C.
hesitated a moment, and because it was a painful thing