"'My chauffeur was off for the night, so I 'phoned to the stable and got Patrick and told him to hitch up the black mare at once, dressed, and took everything that I was likely to need in an emergency, got into the wagon, and hurried away in the darkness. After all, I thought, it is something to have one's skill so much in request by the rich and the powerful. It was a long ride with one horse-power, but we got there. "'Many windows of the great house were aglow. The first butler met me in the hall and took me to my lady's chamber--an immense room finished in the style of the First Empire. She was half reclining and playing solitaire as she smoked a cigarette on a divan that occupied a dais overhung with rare tapestries on a side of the room. The effect of the whole thing was queenly--_à la_ Récamier. She greeted me wearily and without rising. "'"Sit down," said she, and I did so. "'She turned to a good-looking maid who timidly stood near the divan. "'"My dear little woman, you weary me--please go," she said. "'The maid went. "'"Dawctah," the lady said to me, "I have a nahsty little pimple on my right cheek, and I really cahn't go to the ball, you know, unless it is cuahed. Won't you kindly--ah--see what can be done?" "'"A pimple! God prosper it!" I said to myself. "Has the great M.D. become a P.D.--a mere doctor of pimples?" "'I inspected the pimple--a very slight affair. "'"Why, if I were you, I'd just cover the pimple with a little square of court-plaster," I said. "It would become you." "'"What a pretty idea! That's just what I will do," she exclaimed. "'"Please charge it, Dawctah," she said, wearily, as she resumed her solitaire. "'I charged a hundred dollars, but nothing could pay me for the humiliation I suffered. Going home, I pounded the mare shamefully.' "'You charged a good price,' I said. "'Yes; but it's like pulling teeth to get any money out of her. One has to earn it twice. Worth a million, and hangs everybody up. Some have to sue.' "'Does nothing to-day that can be done to-morrow,' I said. "'True,' said he; 'she don't look after her business, and thinks that every one is trying to cheat her.' "'Same old story,' was my remark. I was her husband's lawyer. 'Well, dear, how much do you suppose McCrory's bill is for the last month?' he would ask her. She would look thoughtful and say: 'Oh, about fifteen hundred dollars.' 'My dear,' he would go on, 'it is ten thousand six hundred and forty-three dollars and twenty-four cents.' 'Oh, that's impossible,' she would answer. 'There's some mistake about it. I'll never O.K. such a bill. It's an outrage!' But the bill was always right. "'I didn't suppose you would know the lady--I haven't mentioned her name,' said the Doctor. "'I know her, but don't worry--I shall not betray your confidence. I knew her husband. It wore him out looking after the charge-it department. Now she's trying to get Harry Delance for his job.'