One afternoon Braine summoned his runabout and called up two physicians. When he was ushered into the deserted office of the first he sent his card in. The doctor replied in person. His face was pale and his hands shook. "Good afternoon," said Braine, smiling affably. The doctor eyed him like a man hypnotized. "You ... you wished to see me on some particular business?" "Very particular," dryly. "My car is outside. Will you be so good as to accompany me?" The doctor slowly went into the hall for his hat and coat. He left the house and got into the car with never a word of protest. "Thinking?" said Braine. "I am always thinking whenever I see your evil face. What devilment do you require of me this time?" "A mere stroke of the pen." "Where are we going?" "To call on another physician of your standing," significantly. "It is a great thing to have friends like you two. Always ready to serve us, for the mere love of it." "There's no need of using that kind of talk to me. You have me in the hollow of your hand. Why should I bother to deny it? I have broken the law. I broke it because I was starving." "It is better to starve in freedom than to eat fat joints up the river. To-day it is a question of sanity." "And you want me to assist in signing away the liberty of some person who is perfectly sane?" "The nail on the head," urbanely. "You're a fine scoundrel!" "Not so loud!" warningly. "As loud as I please. I am not forgetting that you need me. I'm no coward. I recognize that you hold the whip hand. But you can send me to the chair before I'll crawl to you. Now, leave me alone for a while." The other physician had no such qualms of conscience. He was ready at all times for the generous emoluments which accrued from his dealings with the man Braine. The Countess Perigoff was indisposed; so it was quite in the order of things that she should summon physicians. There is a law in the state of New York--just or unjust, whichever you please--that reads that any person may be adjudged insane if the signatures of two registered physicians are affixed to the document. It does not say that these physicians shall have been proved reputable. There were, besides the physicians, a motherly looking woman and a man of benign countenance. Their faces were valuable assets. To gain another person's confidence is, perhaps, among the greatest human achievements. A confidence man and woman in the real sense of the word. In your mind's eye you could see this man carrying the contribution plate down the aisle on Sunday mornings, and his wife Kate putting her mite on the plate for the benefit of some poor, untidy Hottentot.