"None at all, sir," he replied, again showing his wonderful ivory teeth. "I don't take offence at anything so trifling. Had you handed me a billion dollars, I should have declined to wait on you." And he bowed me away in a fashion which made me feel keenly the narrowness of my escape. VII AEsculapius, M.D. We had not gone very far along when the pain in my side became poignant and I called out of the window to Sambo: "Sammy, is there a doctor anywhere on the way out to the Zoo?" I asked. "Yassir," he replied, slowing down a trifle. "We gotter go right by de doh ob Dr. Skilapius." "Doctor who?" I asked--the name was new to me. "'Tain't _Skill_-apius," growled the boy behind, who seemed rather jealous that I had taken no notice of him. "It's Eee-skill-apius." "Oh," said I, beginning to catch their drift. "Dr. AEsculapius. Is that what you are trying to say?" "Yassir," said both boys. "Dass de man." "Well, stop at his office a moment," said I. "I'm feeling a trifle ill." In a few minutes we drew up before a large door to the right of the corridor before which there hung a shingle marked in large gilt letters: +-----------------------------------+ | | | AESCULAPIUS, M.D. | | | | Office Hours: 10 to 12. | | | | Tuesdays. | | | +-----------------------------------+ I knocked at the door and was promptly admitted. "I wish to see the doctor," said I. "This is Monday, sir," the maid replied--I couldn't quite place her, but she seemed rather above her station and was stunningly beautiful. "What of that?" I demanded, as fiercely as I could, considering how pretty the maid was. "The doctor can only be seen on Tuesdays," said she. "It's on the door." "But I'm sick," I cried. "Very sick, indeed." "No doubt," she replied, with a shrug of her shoulders that I found very fetching. "Else you would not have come. But you are not so sick that you can't wait until to-morrow, or if you are, you might as well die, because the doctor won't take a case he can't think over a week." "Nice arrangement, that," said I, scornfully. "It may do very well for immortals, but for a mortal it's pretty poor business." The maid's manner underwent an immediate change. [Illustration: "'THEN YOU MUST DIE'"] "Excuse me, sir," she said, making me a courtesy. "I did not know you were a mortal. I presumed you were a minor god. The doctor will see you at once." I was ushered into the consulting-room immediately--in fact, too quickly. I wanted to thank the pretty maid for taking me for an immortal. There was no time for this, however, for in a moment AEsculapius himself appeared.