s in the positive phase and you cure.

SIR PATRICK. And pray how are you to know whether the patient is in the
positive or the negative phase?

RIDGEON. Send a drop of the patient's blood to the laboratory at St.
Anne's; and in fifteen minutes I'll give you his opsonin index in
figures. If the figure is one, inoculate and cure: if it's under point
eight, inoculate and kill. Thats my discovery: the most important that
has been made since Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood. My
tuberculosis patients dont die now.

SIR PATRICK. And mine do when my inoculation catches them in the
negative phase, as you call it. Eh?

RIDGEON. Precisely. To inject a vaccine into a patient without first
testing his opsonin is as near murder as a respectable practitioner can
get. If I wanted to kill s man I should kill him that way.

EMMY [looking in] Will you see a lady that wants her husband's lungs
cured?

RIDGEON [impatiently] No. Havnt I told you I will see nobody?[To Sir
Patrick] I live in a state of siege ever since it got about that I'm a
magician who can cure consumption with a drop of serum. [To Emmy] Dont
come to me again about people who have no appointments. I tell you I can
see nobody.

EMMY. Well, I'll tell her to wait a bit.

RIDGEON [furious] Youll tell her I cant see her, and send her away: do
you hear?

EMMY [unmoved] Well, will you see Mr Cutler Walpole? He dont want a
cure: he only wants to congratulate you.

RIDGEON. Of course. Shew him up. [She turns to go]. Stop. [To Sir
Patrick] I want two minutes more with you between ourselves. [To
Emmy] Emmy: ask Mr. Walpole to wait just two minutes, while I finish a
consultation.

EMMY. Oh, he'll wait all right. He's talking to the poor lady. [She goes
out].

SIR PATRICK. Well? what is it?

RIDGEON. Dont laugh at me. I want your advice.

SIR PATRICK. Professional advice?

RIDGEON. Yes. Theres something the matter with me. I dont know what it
is.

SIR PATRICK. Neither do I. I suppose youve been sounded.

RIDGEON. Yes, of course. Theres nothing wrong with any of the organs:
nothing special, anyhow. But I have a curious aching: I dont know where:
I cant localize it. Sometimes I think it's my heart: sometimes I suspect
my spine. It doesnt exactly hurt me; but it unsettles me completely. I
feel that something is going to happen. And there are other symptoms.
Scraps of tunes come into my head that seem to me very pretty, though
theyre quite commonplace.