et up. It rang and
rang. Out I tumbled.

"'Hello!' I said.

"'A voice answered. "I am Mrs. So-and-So's butler," it said. "She
wishes to see you as soon as you can get here. It's very urgent."

"'"What's the matter?"

"'"Don't know, sir, but it is serious."

"'"All right," I said.

"'My chauffeur was off for the night, so I 'phoned to the stable and
got Patrick and told him to hitch up the black mare at once, dressed,
and took everything that I was likely to need in an emergency, got
into the wagon, and hurried away in the darkness. After all, I
thought, it is something to have one's skill so much in request by the
rich and the powerful. It was a long ride with one horse-power, but we
got there.

"'Many windows of the great house were aglow. The first butler met me
in the hall and took me to my lady's chamber--an immense room finished
in the style of the First Empire. She was half reclining and playing
solitaire as she smoked a cigarette on a divan that occupied a dais
overhung with rare tapestries on a side of the room. The effect of the
whole thing was queenly--_a la_ Recamier. She greeted me wearily and
without rising.

"'"Sit down," said she, and I did so.

"'She turned to a good-looking maid who timidly stood near the divan.

"'"My dear little woman, you weary me--please go," she said.

"'The maid went.

"'"Dawctah," the lady said to me, "I have a nahsty little pimple on
my right cheek, and I really cahn't go to the ball, you know, unless
it is cuahed. Won't you kindly--ah--see what can be done?"

"'"A pimple! God prosper it!" I said to myself. "Has the great M.D.
become a P.D.--a mere doctor of pimples?"

"'I inspected the pimple--a very slight affair.

"'"Why, if I were you, I'd just cover the pimple with a little square
of court-plaster," I said. "It would become you."

"'"What a pretty idea! That's just what I will do," she exclaimed.

"'"Please charge it, Dawctah," she said, wearily, as she resumed her
solitaire.

"'I charged a hundred dollars, but nothing could pay me for the
humiliation I suffered. Going home, I pounded the mare shamefully.'

"'You charged a good price,' I said.

"'Yes; but it's like pulling teeth to get any money out of her. One
has to earn it twice. Worth a million, and hangs everybody up. Some
have to sue.'

"'Does nothing to-day that can be done to-morrow,' I said.

"'True,' said he; 'she don't look after her business, and thinks that
every one is trying to c