r that the medical
author did not propose to retract; quite the contrary, in short.

"Permit! Ought to have asked why we applaud them, court them, _envy_
them--"

"'Shameless homicides'!--and he calls it mild! Now, here, honor
bright--"

"It's what they are--and more! You ask me if I know these people
personally? I reply that in the truest sense I do know 'em, very well,
for I've made a study of the type, d'you see?..."

Then the office door from the hall opened about a foot, a fat head in a
gaunt bonnet protruded through the crevice, having rather a decapitated
look, and a deep inflectionless voice said:

"Excuse me introodin', Doctor, I'm sure, but your sick here raskin' me
kin they see you soon."

"In five minutes precisely ..."

Morning sunshine streamed through the unwashen windows. V. Vivian had
risen in the ardor of his argument. Quite a different-looking man from
the Commissioner he was observed to be, tall where the Commissioner was
thick, eager where the Commissioner was easy-going. Rather a long face
he had, sensitive about the mouth, lucid about the gaze, and hair of a
tan shade which waved a little, no matter how crisply cut. The faded
gray suit he wore contrasted unfavorably with his friend's new brown;
on the other hand, his movements were not devoid of a certain lank
grace such as the gods have denied to rotundity.

Yet when he stepped out from his quaint desk, it was suddenly to be seen
that the young man limped, on his left foot: that this limp was not
accidental or temporary.... A lame doctor: so it was with him. And yet
the fire with which he spoke was surely not born of the
pharmacopoeia....

"Take it in the large--that's all I ask! Look at your job from a social
standpoint. I tell you, it's just these Huns, these yellow-rich Heths
and Magees and Old Dominion Pickle people who're rotting the heart out
of this fine old town. And the root of the whole trouble's in their
debased personal ideals, don't you see? 'Get on' at all costs, that's
the motto: slapping their money in their neighbors' faces and shouting,
'Here's what counts!'--spreading their degraded standards by example
through the community--yellow materialism gone mad.... Oh, I know!--I
know it isn't your slave-driving captains only. It's mainly the women
pushing from behind--fat horse-leeches' daughters always screaming
'more, more'--when there's--"

"Leeches! Peaches, you mean! You ought to see--"

"When there's no way to get