ed you, Memnon. I
meant it all right. Why didn't you tell me when I gave it you?"

"I should have given you a check for it, sir. I supposed you didn't
wish to carry anything so heavy about with you."

"Ah!" said I, replacing the dollar in my pocket. "Thank you for your
care of it, Memnon. No offence, I hope?"

"None at all, sir," he replied, again showing his wonderful ivory
teeth. "I don't take offence at anything so trifling. Had you handed
me a billion dollars, I should have declined to wait on you."

And he bowed me away in a fashion which made me feel keenly the
narrowness of my escape.

VII

AEsculapius, M.D.

We had not gone very far along when the pain in my side became
poignant and I called out of the window to Sambo:

"Sammy, is there a doctor anywhere on the way out to the Zoo?" I
asked.

"Yassir," he replied, slowing down a trifle. "We gotter go right by de
doh ob Dr. Skilapius."

"Doctor who?" I asked--the name was new to me.

"'Tain't _Skill_-apius," growled the boy behind, who seemed rather
jealous that I had taken no notice of him. "It's Eee-skill-apius."

"Oh," said I, beginning to catch their drift. "Dr. AEsculapius. Is that
what you are trying to say?"

"Yassir," said both boys. "Dass de man."

"Well, stop at his office a moment," said I. "I'm feeling a trifle
ill."

In a few minutes we drew up before a large door to the right of the
corridor before which there hung a shingle marked in large gilt
letters:

+-----------------------------------+
| |
| AESCULAPIUS, M.D. |
| |
| Office Hours: 10 to 12. |
| |
| Tuesdays. |
| |
+-----------------------------------+

I knocked at the door and was promptly admitted.

"I wish to see the doctor," said I.

"This is Monday, sir," the maid replied--I couldn't quite place her,
but she seemed rather above her station and was stunningly beautiful.

"What of that?" I demanded, as fiercely as I could, considering how
pretty the maid was.

"The doctor can only be seen on Tuesdays," said she. "It's on the
door."

"But I'm sick," I cried. "Very sick, indeed."

"No doubt," she replied, with a shrug of her shoulders that I found
very fetching. "Else you would not have come. But you are not so sick
that you can't wait until to-morrow, or if you are