"Surely," said Mary, "you are not going to take this stranger's
medicine without knowing anything about it, or him?"

"I am indeed; go and get the water."

She took the medicine and then told me that her father, who had died
two years ago, was a physician, and had carefully attended to her
case as long as he lived; but that she had a will of her own, and
had sent far and near for other doctors, though with no good result.

"You have come to me," she continued, "and although I am not
superstitious, your coming with a blossom in your hand, figuratively
speaking, is so exactly in accordance with my dream, that I am going
to put myself under your care."

She then asked me if I lived in the neighborhood, and I told her no;
that I had merely come up from Boston with two friends to try a few
days' fishing through the ice on the lake.

"You can fish to better purpose here, I think," she said; "you can
get plenty of practice in the villages and farm houses about here:
at any rate, stay for the present and undertake my case, and I will
pay you liberally."

I went back to Meredith Bridge-I believe it is now called
Laconia-and had another day's fishing with my friends. When they
were ready to pack up and return to Boston, I astonished them by
informing them that I should stay where I was for the present,
perhaps for months, and that I believed I could find a good practice
in Meredith and adjoining places. So they left me and I went to Lake