"There is your medicine, madam. You will
find the directions upon the bottle. Keep the
child warm and give it a light diet."

"Thank you kindly, sir." She shouldered her baby
and marched for the door.

"Excuse me, madam," said the doctor nervously.
"Don't you think it too small a matter to make a bill
of? Perhaps it would be better if we had a
settlement at once."

The gypsy woman looked at him reproachfully out
of her one uncovered eye.

"Are you going to charge me for that?" she asked.
"How much, then?"

"Well, say half-a-crown." He mentioned the sum
in a half-jesting way, as though it were too small to
take serious notice of, but the gypsy woman raised
quite a scream at the mention of it.

"'Arf-a-crown! for that?"

"Well, my good woman, why not go to the poor
doctor if you cannot afford a fee?"

She fumbled in her pocket, craning awkwardly to
keep her grip upon the baby.