"So, you give me back my question. Well, as the water will be some time
getting ready, and it will do our man no harm to feel serious for a few
minutes more, I'll go into it with your reverence homeopathically. The
root of his trouble is a whiskey back. That accidentally led to a
muscular strain, involving something a little more paralyzing than
lumbago. He has no bones broken in that strong frame of his, but the
grindstones have bruised him abdominally. I hope my treatment for the
root of the disease will be more successful than that of the oriental
physician, who prescribed for a man that had a pain in his stomach,
caused by eating burnt bread. The physician anointed him with eye salve,
because he said the root of the disease lay in his eyes; had they been
all right, he would not have eaten the burnt bread, and consequently
would not have had the pains."
The priest chuckled beneath his breath over the story; then, with
earnestness, asked, or rather whispered: "Will he get well soon?"
"Well enough, I think, to sit up in half-an-hour," replied the doctor of
the moment.
"My dear sir, may I ask you to delay your treatment until I perform a
religious office with your patient? This is a favourable time for making
an impression," said the hitherto callous priest.
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