Ernestine again courtesied, and made way for Doctor Chantry. He came in
quite good natured, and greeted all of us, his inferiors, with a
humility I then thought touching, but learned afterwards to distrust.
My head already felt the healing blood, and I was ravenous for food. He
bound it with fresh bandages, and opened a box full of glittering
knives, taking out a small sheath. From this he made a point of steel
spring like lightning.

"We will bring the wholesome lancet again into play, my lad," said
Doctor Chantry. I waited in uncertainty with my feet on the floor and my
hands on the side of the couch, while he carefully removed coat and
waistcoat and turned up his sleeves.

"Ernestine, bring the basin," he commanded.

My father may have thought the doctor was about to inflict a vicarious
puncture on himself. Skenedonk, with respect for civilized surgery,
waited. I did not wait. The operator bared me to the elbow and showed a
piece of plaster already sticking on my arm. The conviction of being
outraged in my person came upon me mightily, and snatching the wholesome
lancet I turned its spring upon the doctor. He yelled. I leaped through
the door like a deer, and ran barefooted, the loose robe curdling above
my knees. I had the fleetest foot among the Indian racers, and was going
to throw the garment away for the pure joy of feeling the air slide past
my naked body, when I saw the girl and poppet baby who had looked at me
during my first consciousness. They were sitting on a blanket under the
trees of De Chaumont's park, which deepened into wilderness.

The baby put up a lip, and the girl surrounded it with her arm,
dividing her sympathy with me. I must have been a charming object.