the
parlour behind the shop. But he could not sit still. He rose
incessantly to walk a few paces and then fell back into a chair once
more. Suddenly the clatter of china fell upon his ear, and he saw the
maid pass the door with a cup on a tray and a smoking teapot.

"Who is that for, Jane?" he asked.

"For the mistress, Mr. Johnson. She says she would fancy it."

There was immeasurable consolation to him in that homely cup of tea.
It wasn't so very bad after all if his wife could think of such things.
So light-hearted was he that he asked for a cup also. He had just
finished it when the doctor arrived, with a small black leather bag in
his hand.

"Well, how is she?" he asked genially.

"Oh, she's very much better," said Johnson, with enthusiasm.

"Dear me, that's bad!" said the doctor. "Perhaps it will do if I look
in on my morning round?"

"No, no," cried Johnson, clutching at his thick frieze overcoat. "We
are so glad that you have come. And, doctor, please come down soon and
let me know what you think about it."

The doctor passed upstairs, his firm, heavy steps resounding through
the house. Johnson could hear his boots creaking as he walked about
the floor above him, and the sound was a consolation to him. It was
crisp and decided, the tread of a man who had plenty of
self-confidence. Presently, still straining his ears to catch what was
going on, he heard the scraping of a chair as it was drawn along the
floor, and a moment later he heard the door fly open and someone come
rushing downstairs. Johnson sprang up with his hair bristling,
thinking that some dreadful thing had occurred, but it was only his
mother-in-law, incoherent with excitement and searching for scissors
and some tape. She vanished again and Jane passed up the stairs with a
pile of newly aired linen. Then, after an interval of silence, Johnson
heard the heavy, creaking tread and the doctor came down into the
parlour.

"That's better," said he, pausing with his hand upon the door. "You
look pale, Mr. Johnson."

"Oh no, sir, not at all," he answered deprecatingly, mopping his brow
with his handkerchief.

"There is no immediate cause for alarm," said Dr. Miles. "The case is
not all that we could wish it. Still we will hope for the best."

"Is there danger, sir?" gasped Johnson.

"Well, there is always danger, of course. It is not altogether a
favourable case, but still it might be much worse. I have given her a
drau