Page:Broken Ties and Other Stories.pdf/143

 two bottles of medicine. Taking these out he said to my wife: “See, this blue bottle is for outward application, and the other is to be taken. Be careful not to mix the two, for this is a deadly poison.”

‘Warning me also, he placed the two bottles on the table by the bedside. When he was going the doctor called his daughter.

‘She said to him: ‘Father, why should I not stay? There is no woman here to nurse her.”

‘My wife got quite excited and sat up saying: “No, no, don’t you bother yourself. I have an old maidservant who takes care of me as if she were my mother.”

‘Just as the doctor was going away with his daughter, my wife said to him: “Doctor, he has been sitting too long in this close and stuffy room. Won't you take him out for some fresh air?”

‘The doctor turned to me, and said: “Come along, I'll take you for a stroll along the bank of the river.”

‘After some little show of unwillingness I agreed, Before going the doctor again warned my wife about the two bottles of medicine.

‘That evening 1 took my dinner at the doctor’s house, and was late in coming home.