e
there so few other doctors?"

"Few!" he roared. "By Crums, the streets are blocked with them. You
couldn't fall out of a window in this town without killing a doctor. But
of all the ---- well, there, you'll see them for yourself. You walked to
my house at Avonmouth, Munro. I don't let my friends walk to my house at
Bradfield--eh, what?"

A well-appointed carriage with two fine black horses was drawn up at
the station entrance. The smart coachman touched his hat as Cullingworth
opened the door.

"Which of the houses, sir?" he asked.

Cullingworth's eyes shot round to me to see what I thought of such a
query. Between ourselves I have not the slightest doubt that he had
instructed the man to ask it. He always had a fine eye for effect, but
he usually erred by underrating the intelligence of those around him.

"Ah!" said he, rubbing his chin like a man in doubt. "Well, I daresay
dinner will be nearly ready. Drive to the town residential."

"Good gracious, Cullingworth!" said I as we started. "How many houses do
you inhabit? It sounds as if you had bought the town."

"Well, well," said he, laughing, "we are driving to the house where I
usually live. It suits us very well, though I have not been able to get
all the rooms furnished yet. Then I have a little farm of a few hundred
acres just outside the city. It is a pleasant place for the week ends,
and we send the nurse and the child----"

"My dear chap, I did not know that you had started a family!"

"Yes, it's an infernal nuisance; but still the fact remains. We get our
butter and things from the farm. Then, of course, I have my house of
business in the heart of the city."

"Consulting and waiting room, I suppose?"

He looked at me with a sort of half vexed, half amused expression. "You
cannot rise to a situation, Munro," said he. "I never met a fellow with
such a stodgy imagination. I'd trust you to describe a thing when you
have seen it, but never to build up an idea of it beforehand."

"What's the trouble now?" I asked.

"Well, I have written to you about my practice, and I've wired to you
about it, and here you sit asking me if I work it in two rooms. I'll
have to hire the market square before I've finished, and then I won't
have space to wag my elbows. Can your imagination rise to a great house
with people waiting in every room, jammed in as tight as they'll fit,
and two layers of them squatting in the cellar? Well, that's my house of
business on an av