I answered as truthfully as I could, though I saw the drift of his
inquiries, and was trembling with fear of what he would tell me next.
He said nothing then, however, except to make his recommendations. And
remembering my loss of work, my heart sank as he enumerated baby's
needs--fresh cow's milk diluted with lime water, small quantities of
meat juice, and twenty to thirty drops of the best brandy three or four
times a day.
When he rose to go I paid his fee. It was only half-a-crown, but he
cannot have known how much that meant to me, for as he was leaving the
kitchen he told me to send for him again in the morning if there were a
change in the symptoms.
Feeling that I did not yet know the whole truth (though I was trembling
in terror of it), I handed baby to Mrs. Oliver and followed the doctor
to the door.
"Doctor," I said, "is my baby very ill?"
He hesitated for a moment and then answered, "Yes."
"Dangerously ill?"
Again he hesitated, and then looking closely at me (I felt my lower lip
trembling) he said:
"I won't say that.
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