ed and unconscious. I went,
therefore, for a barber that he should come and bleed my brother, and
restore his senses to him. Now as ill-luck would have it the first
barber I lighted upon was this pestilent fellow. When I found him he
was engaged in shaving a customer, and because that customer was a good
one he would not leave him to attend to my brother, but first finished
his shaving and then came with me. Having first delayed so long, when
at last he was come he bled my brother not once but three times, and
two hours afterwards my brother died. I say, therefore, truly that he
has killed my brother, and deserves to be termed butcher rather than
barber.'

"Having listened to this complaint, I said, addressing the barber, 'You
hear what this man alleges; let me hear, therefore, what reply you can
make and how you will defend yourself from the charge which has been
brought against you.'

"The barber, who like most of his class did not lack assurance and had
words at command, was not slow to answer.

"'Sir,' said he, 'the accusation which this man brings against me, and
his assertion that I am ignorant and do not understand the duties of my
office, are both of them groundless and absurd. I have not been a
barber for fifteen years without knowing very well how to let blood as
well as how to shave; and if this man's brother is dead, it is in spite
of what I did for him, and not in consequence of it. As to what is
alleged of my delay, I deny it altogether. I did but give three or
four strokes of my razor, which was all that was needed to finish the
operation of shaving in which I was engaged when this man called for
me, and it is only his furious impatience that has magnified a few
seconds into a serious delay. As to the bleeding, I did indeed take
from him six ounces of blood; in one cup I received two ounces, in a
second cup two ounces, and in a third cup two ounces. But that
quantity was by no means too much. Moreover, that which was received
into the first cup coagulated in twelve minutes, that which was
received into the second cup in twenty-two minutes, while that which
was in the third cup was not completely coagulated in thirty-five
minutes; now what does that prove?'

"'It proves,' said the other, 'that you are, as I have told you
already, a bungler and murderer, for is not my brother dead of your
bleeding, and you deserve to lose your head?'

"'Sir,' said the barber to me, 'this man simply raves, a