The Story of a Doctor's Telephone Part 30

"On what street?.... Down near Dyre's? I don't know any such family."

Here Mary called out, "Maybe they mean Dye's."

"Dye's? Yes, I know where that is..... Galliver--that's the name is it?

Very well, Mrs. Galliver, I'll be down in a little while.... Yes, just as soon as I can dress and get there."

He proceeded to clothe himself very deliberately, but years of repression had taught Mary resignation.

Ting-a-ling-ling-ling. Three rings.

The doctor went with shoe in hand and again his wife was a listener.

"Yes..... Yes..... I'm just getting ready to go to see a patient......

It's a hurry call, is it? All right then, I'll come there first......

Yes, right away."

As he put up the receiver he said to his wife, "Somebody else was trying to get me then, too, but couldn't make it." Mary thought it well he couldn't since her husband was only one and indivisible.

"But he will probably try again after a little," she thought, "and John will be gone and I won't know just where to find him."

Ting-a-ling-ling-ling-ling-ling. Collar in hand the doctor went.

"Yes..... Who is this?.... Come where?.... Jackson street. Right next to Wilson's mill?.... On which side? I say on which side of Wilson's mill?.... West? All right, I'll be down there after awhile...... No, not right away; I have to make two other visits first, but as soon as I can get there."

When at last he was dressed and his hand was on the door-k.n.o.b the 'phone called him back.

"You say I needn't come..... Very well. I'll come if you want me to though, Mrs. Galliver. I'm just starting now. I have to see another patient first."--

"Why John," interposed Mary from the bedroom, "She called you first."

"It will be about half an hour before I can get there..... All right, I'll be there."

Then Mary remembered that No. 2 was the hurry call and was silent. When the doctor was gone she fell asleep but only for two minutes.

She went to answer the call. "Has the doctor started yet?"

"Yes, he is on his way."

"All right then," and the relief in the tone was a pleasant thing to hear.

"Now, if I go to sleep again I can feel no security from No. 1 or No. 3 or both." Nevertheless she did go to sleep and neither No. 1 nor No. 3 called her out of it.

"I must be going," said Mary, rising from her chair in a neighbor's house.

"Have you something special on hand?" asked her neighbor.

"Yes, it's clock-winding day at our house, for one thing."

"Why, how many clocks do you have to wind?" inquired the little old lady with mild surprise.

"Only one, thank heaven!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Mary as she departed.

When she had sped across the yard and entered her own door she threw off her shawl and made ready to wind the clock. First, she turned off the gas in the grate so that her skirts would not catch fire. Second, she brought a chair and set it on the hearth in front of the grate. Third, she went into the next room and got the big unabridged dictionary, brought it out and put it on the chair. Fourth, she went back and got the oldest and thickest Family Bible and the fat Bible Dictionary, brought them out and deposited them on the unabridged. Fifth, she mounted the chair. Sixth, she mounted the volumes--which brought her up to the height she was seeking to attain. Seventh, she wound the clock; that is, she usually did. Today, when she had inserted the key and turned it twice round--the 'phone rang. Oh, dear! Thank goodness it stopped at two rings. She would take it for granted the doctor was in the office. She wound on. Then she took the key out and inserted it on the opposite side. A second peal. That settled it. If it were a lawyer's or a merchant's or any other man's 'phone she could wind the other side first--but the doctor's is in the imperative mood and the present tense.

She must descend. Slowly and cautiously she did so, went to the 'phone and put the receiver to her ear.

"h.e.l.lo, is this Dr. Blank's office?"

"This is his--"

"h.e.l.lo, what is it?" said her husband's voice. "Now why couldn't he have come a minute sooner," thought Mary, provoked.

"Doctor," said an agitated voice, "my little boy has swallowed a penny."

"Was it a good one?" inquired the doctor, calmly.

"Why--ye-es," said the voice, broken with a laugh, "guess it was."

"Just let him alone. It will be all right after awhile."

"It was worth getting down to hear so comforting an a.s.surance," said Mary as she ascended again the chair and the volumes. She finished her weekly task, then slowly and cautiously descended, carried the big books back to their places, set the chair in its corner and lighted the gas.

She stood for a moment looking up at this clock. The s.p.a.ce over the mantel-piece was just the place for it and it was only after it had been firmly anch.o.r.ed to the wall that the thought had arisen, "How can I ever get up there to wind it?"

She smiled as she thought of a social gathering a few days before, when a lady had called to her across the room, "Mrs. Blank, tell us that clock story again." And she had answered:

"It isn't much of a story, but it serves to show the manner in which we computed the time. One night the doctor woke me up. 'Mary,' he said in a helpless sort of way, 'It struck _seven_--what _time_ is it?' 'Well--let me see,' I said. 'If it struck seven it meant to strike three, for it strikes four ahead of time. And if it meant to strike three it's just a quarter past two, for it's three quarters of an hour too fast.'"

Ting-a-ling-ling. Ting-a-ling-ling-ling. Ting-a-ling-ling-ling.

Mary recognized her husband's ring. "Yes, what is it John?"

"I'm going out for twenty minutes, watch the 'phone, please."

She laughed in answer to this most superfluous request, then sat her down near by.

"John, Mrs. B. said a pretty good thing last night."

"That's good."

"I've a notion not to tell you, now that the good thing was about you."

"That's better still. But are good things about me so rare that you made a note of it?"

"I don't know but what they are," said Mary, reflectively. "There was Mrs. C., you know, who said she didn't see how in the world Doc Blank's wife ever lived with him--he was so mean."

"I wonder about that myself, sometimes."