“Oh, indeed doctor, I shall be very faithful! Try me! You cannot prescribe anything too difficult. Shall I travel to the Pyramids barefoot, and live on bread and water all the way? I am only afraid Waldorf should insist upon my taking odious drugs, and—You know cautions meeting one at every turn are so tiresome!” “Then you are willing to undertake any remedy which is not at all disagreeable, and which may be used or omitted _à discretion_—” “No, no—indeed you mistake me. I only beg that it may not be _too_ unpleasant. I will do just as you say.” Mrs. Waldorf now had a fine color, and her eyes sparkled as of old. She had every confidence in the skill of Dr. R——, and the effort of recalling and recounting her symptoms had given an impetus to her thoughts and a quicker current to her blood. The doctor apologized. He had an appointment and his hour had come. “But before I leave you thus unceremoniously,” he said, “it strikes me that there is a root in my garden which might be of essential service to you, to begin with at least. You know I have a little spot in which I cultivate a few rare botanical specimens. Might I venture to ask you to search for the root I speak of? It is in that little square compartment in the corner, which appears nearly vacant.” “Oh, certainly—but had I not better call John, as your own man is going away with you?” “John! Bless my soul, my dear Madam, there is not a John in the world that I would trust in my sanctum! No hand but mine, and that of a gardener whom I employ occasionally under my own direction, ever intrudes among my pets. Let me entreat you, since I have not another moment to spare, to take this little trowel and search with your own hands until you discover an oblong white root like this—” opening a book of botanical plates and exhibiting something that looked very much like a Jerusalem artichoke—“Take that and have it washed and grated into a gill of Port, of which try ten drops in a little water three times a day. I will see you again very soon—but now I must run away—” and Doctor R—— departed, leaving Mrs. Waldorf in a musing mood.