This time I was not reluctant to follow the Principal, and I was very agreeably surprised on entering the “Renewing Room.” My mind’s eye had conjured a vision of gory disorder, the central figure of which was the quivering and bleeding body of some unhappy animal, and the prominent accessories some brawny and bare-armed surgeons, whose perspiring brows, blood-stained hands, and callous cruelty of expression would be anything but reassuring to the trembling and expectant human beings waiting to be inoculated. What I really saw was this: The room to which an attendant conducted us was richly carpeted, and furnished with Oriental luxuriousness. Every accessory to comfort was there, and several people were either standing talking in animated groups, or lounging on the spacious cushioned chairs and settees. Some were reading, some sipping coffee, some playing with some beautiful dogs, that basked in front of the fire. A few were busy at needlework, but all seemed thoroughly at home. There were several tables laden with prints and papers. A magnificent bookcase occupied one end of the room. The walls were panelled in bird’s-eye maple, and decorated with beautiful pictures, all photographed in their natural colours, which stood out as vivid and brilliant as in an oil painting. The operating surgeons were six in number—four of them being women, two men. They were all handsome, of splendid physique, elegantly dressed, and of dignified yet gentle and calm demeanour. Not a bit like the ogres my excited fancy had pictured. In one of the window recesses was a sort of bassinette, in which a large dog lay motionless, and apparently sleeping, with a screen partially hiding him from observation. To this dog the surgeons journeyed before attacking the bared arm of the individual to be operated upon. In an incredibly short time the task of inoculation was performed, the people hardly ceasing their pleasant hum of conversation the while. Then the arm was tightly bandaged, and the patient went on her or his way rejoicing, after paying the necessary fees to an official whose duty it was to receive them in an ante-room. Presently an electric-bell was rung. Two attendants entered the room, pushed the bassinette through a door at one side of the window, and drew an empty one from an opening at the other side. Then one of the dogs was coaxed from the hearth, and given a dainty and appetising meal, afterwards springing upon the bassinette to enjoy a quiet nap after his good dinner. In another second the “Bändiger” had done its work, and in a few minutes more some of the dog’s nerve force was being transferred to my own arm. The sensation I experienced was little more than a pinprick in intensity, but, before I left the building with Principal Grey, I felt ten years younger and stronger, and was proportionately elated at my good fortune. CHAPTER XII.