domestic despot, she made her tyranny felt even in the sick-room. She
declared that she would leave the house if any other woman presumed to
enter it as nurse. "When my master is ill," said Mother Barbara, "my
master is my property." It was plainly impossible that a woman, at her
advanced age, could keep watch at the bedside by day and night together.
In the interests of peace we decided on waiting until the next day. If
Mr. Keller showed no signs of improvement by that time, I undertook to
inquire at the hospital for a properly qualified nurse.

Later in the day, our doubts of the doctor were confirmed. He betrayed
his own perplexity in arriving at a true "diagnosis" of the patient's
case, by bringing with him, at his second visit, a brother-physician,
whom he introduced as Doctor Dormann, and with whom he asked leave to
consult at the bedside.

The new doctor was the younger, and evidently the firmer person of the
two.

His examination of the sick man was patient and careful in the extreme.
He questioned us minutely about the period at which the illness had
begun; the state of Mr. Keller's health immediately before it; the first
symptoms noticed; what he had eaten, and what he had drunk; and so on.
Next, he desired to see all the inmates of the house who had access to
the bed-chamber; looking with steady scrutiny at the housekeeper, the
footman, and the maid, as they followed each other into the room--and
dismissing them again without remark. Lastly, he astounded his old
colleague by proposing to administer an emetic. There was no prevailing
on him to give his reasons. "If I prove to be right, you shall hear my
reasons. If I prove to be wrong, I have only to say so, and no reasons
will be required. Clear the room, administer the emetic, and keep the