The Loot of Cities: Being the Adventures of a Millionaire in Search of Joy (a Fantasia); and Other Stories
John Stuart Mill · en
and things so occurred that I tumbled right into it. Well, I’ll tell
you.
II.
I was called in to the Grand Babylon about nine p.m.; suite No. 63,
second floor, name of Russell. The outer door of the suite was opened
for me by a well-dressed woman of thirty or so, slim, with a face
expressive and intelligent rather than handsome. I liked her face--I
was attracted by its look of honesty and alert good-nature.
“Good evening, doctor,” she said. She had a charming low voice, as she
led me into a highly-luxurious drawing-room. “My name is Russell, and I
wish you to see a young friend of mine who is not well.” She hesitated
and turned to an old bald-headed man, who stood looking out of the
window at the twilight panorama of the Thames. “My friend’s solicitor,
Mr. Dancer,” she explained. We bowed, Mr. Dancer and I.
“Nothing serious, I hope,” I remarked.
“No, no!” said Miss Russell.
Nevertheless, she seemed to me to be extremely nervous and anxious, as
she preceded me into the bedroom, a chamber quite as magnificent as the
drawing-room.
On the bed lay a beautiful young girl. Yes, you may laugh, you fellows,
but she was genuinely beautiful. She smiled faintly as we entered. Her
features had an ashy tint, and tiny drops of cold perspiration stood on
the forehead. However, she certainly wasn’t very ill--I could see that
in a moment, and I fixed my conversational tone accordingly.
“Do you feel as if you could breathe freely, but that if you did it
would kill you?” I inquired, after I had examined her. And she nodded,
smiling again. Miss Russell also smiled, evidently pleased that I had
diagnosed the case so quickly.
My patient was suffering from a mild attack of pseudo-angina, nothing
worse. Not angina pectoris, you know--that’s usually associated with
old age. Pseudo-angina is a different thing. With a weak heart, it
may be caused by indigestion. The symptoms are cardiac spasms, acute
pain in the chest, a strong disinclination to make even the smallest
movement, and a state of mental depression, together with that queer
fancy about breathing. The girl had these symptoms, and she also had a
headache and a dicrotism of the pulse--two pulsations instead of one,
not unusual. I found that she had been eating a too hearty dinner, and
that she had suffered from several similar attacks in the immediate
past.
“You had a doctor in before?” I asked.
“Yes,” said Miss Russell. “But he was unable to come to-night, and as
your house is so near we sent for you.”
“There is no danger whatever--no real cause for anxiety,” I summed up.
“I will have some medicine made up instantly.”
“Trinitrin?” demanded Miss Russell.
“Yes,” I answered, a little astonished at this readiness. “Your regular
physician prescribed it?”
(I should explain to you that trinitrin is nothing but nitro-glycerine
in a non-explosive form.)