“Ah!  Glad to see you!” exclaimed Mr. Jelliffe as I entered the room.  “A broken leg is no fun, but I can say that I got on rather better than I expected to.  The pain has been no more than I can stand.  I’ll be through with this in a minute.”

He swallowed his last mouthful of coffee, and Susie Sweetapple, the improvised domestic, took away a flat board with which she had made a tray.

“Is you real sure you got enough?” she enquired solicitously.  “Them porridges doesn’t stick long to folks’ ribs, but if yer stummick gits ter teasin’ yer afore dinner time jist bawl out.  ’Tain’t never no trouble ter bile th’ kittle again.”

“Thank you,” said Mr. Jelliffe, as the girl left the room.  “I have not yet decided, Doctor, whether that young female is an unmitigated nuisance or a pearl of great price.  At any rate we couldn’t get along without her.”

In a few minutes I was allowed to inspect the broken leg, which was resting properly on the pillow.  The swelling was not too great, and the patient declared that the confounded thing was doubtless as comfortable as such a beastly affair could be.  Mr. Jelliffe possesses some notions of philosophy.

“A schooner is leaving to-day for St. John’s, Mr. Jelliffe,” I told him.  “It will return in a few days, depending on the weather, and we could probably prevail upon one of the best surgeons there to come back with it.”

My patient’s eyes narrowed a little and he wrinkled his brow.  He was looking at me keenly, like one long accustomed to gauging men with the utmost care.

“What is your own advice?” he finally asked.

I could not help smiling a little.

“Your fracture is not at all a complicated affair, and it looks to me as if the ends could easily be maintained in proper position.  On the other hand I am still a young man, and desire to make no special claim to eminence in my profession.”

“At any rate you are the local doctor.”

“I suppose I represent all that this community can afford,” I replied.  “If I were you I would send for a consultant.”

“The community doesn’t seem to me to be so very badly off, as far as its doctor is concerned,” said Mr. Jelliffe, slowly.  “The other chap will come and undo this thing, and hurt me a lot more.  I’m inclined to let things slide.  This practice of yours ought to be a great thing for a stout man needing a reducing diet.  How the deuce do you keep from starving to death?”

“Mrs. Sammy feeds me rather well,” I replied.

My patient smiled.

“You’re a smart boy,” he said.  “I’ll admit you don’t look very hungry.  But how about the appetite for other things, for success in life, for the appreciation of intelligent men and for their companionship?  Is there no danger of what you fellows call atrophy?  Men’s intellects can only maintain a proper level by rubbing up against others.”

For a moment he stopped, and then went on again.