“How do you do, sir?” said Doctor Marcy to Mr. Duwell. “This is Miss Foster, a trained nurse. I am taking matters in my own hands, you see. That good wife of yours is entirely worn out.”
“I am pleased to meet Miss Foster and I am very much obliged to you for bringing her, doctor,” Mr. Duwell replied.
“It seems to me to be the very best thing to do. I have tried to persuade Mrs. Duwell to see things that way,” said the doctor.
“Oh, come upstairs, doctor,” called Mrs. Duwell, hearing the doctor’s voice; “I think baby is scarcely breathing.”
“Come,” said the doctor to the nurse, leading the way.
Mrs. Duwell was standing near the crib as they entered.
“This is the nurse I was talking about,” the doctor said, introducing Miss Foster, and turning to look at the baby.
“I am very glad—” Mrs. Duwell started to speak, but she fainted away before she could finish the sentence.
The nurse did not seem frightened. She laid Mrs. Duwell flat on the floor. After sprinkling cold water on her face, she held some smelling salts to her nose.
In a minute or two Mrs. Duwell opened her eyes. “I must have fainted,” she said; “I am so glad you were here, nurse. Doctor, how is baby?”
“About as I expected,” the doctor replied. “I believe the worst will be over to-night. Now, I want you to take this medicine which Miss Foster will give you, and lie down for a while. I expect to come back about ten o’clock to-night. Good-by; please obey Miss Foster’s orders,” he added.
“It is such a relief to my mind, doctor,” said Mr. Duwell, meeting him at the foot of the stairs, “to know that the nurse is here.”
“It is a relief,” replied the doctor. “If the strain had kept on much longer, Mrs. Duwell would have had a long term of illness.”
The doctor and nurse watched by the baby’s bedside until the danger was passed. Both wore happy smiles when the doctor assured the tired Duwell family that the baby would live.
“Oh, doctor, money cannot pay you for your kindness,” said Mrs. Duwell. “Through rain and snow storms, at midnight and at daybreak, you have come to help us. How tired you must often be.”
“It is true, doctor,” Mr. Duwell added; “you risk your life as willingly as a soldier does, every time you go into danger.”
“We doctors don’t think anything about that,” replied Doctor Marcy modestly. “We are so anxious to have people get well.”