Page:The Surakarta (1913).djvu/86

Rh a physician. But these causes, even when taken together, did not fully account for the irritation with which he received Max Schimmel's card, when it was brought to the inner office where he was closeted with a visitor.

"It is a naturalist friend of mine whom I consulted yesterday, perhaps a little precipitately, as to the real existence of the Surakarta," he explained to his companion.

Great as had been Hereford's eagerness to consult Max the afternoon before, this morning he had no wish at all to see him; but he could find, as he drummed impatiently with the card upon the desk, no excuse under the circumstances by which he could put the German off. So he went out to him.

Max Schimmel's dispassionate gaze shifted mildly from Hereford's face to his bandaged hand and back again.