DR. THORNE (_more gently; addresses the loafer_). Jerry! Is that you, Jerry! Tell these gentlemen, will you, that I am Dr. Thorne? I should take it--kindly--of you, Jerry.
LOAFER (_stares; mutters_). Divil a cint did he charrge me for ’t.
DR. THORNE (_addresses the broker_). Oh, Brake! I am glad to see you! I couldn’t get down to save my Santa Ma. But _that_ is of no consequence.... I’ve been hurt--an accident--and I am confused. I am suffering from hallucinations. They have got beyond my control. I wonder if you wouldn’t call a cab for me? I thought Dr. Gazell would take me home in his carriage,--but he didn’t seem to hear me when I spoke to him. If you’ll call a cab, I’ll get home--to my wife.
[_Exeunt_ DR. GAZELL, DR. CARVER, _and_ BRAKE, _without replying_.
(DR. THORNE _watches them with a piteous expression; stands back and apart from the crowd_.)
A small ward--the women’s ward--in a hospital; several cots with patients in them are visible. One patient is in a wheeled chair. Screens stand by the cots. There are plants, pictures, the cheerful features of the modern hospital. Two nurses are seen busy with patients.
DR. GAZELL (_seats himself by one of the patients; speaks blandly_). And how do we find ourselves to-day?
PATIENT (_turning her face, on which can be seen traces of tears_). Bad enough--worse. I’ve been so upset by--
DR. GAZELL. Yes, yes. I know. It is truly shocking!
DR. CARVER (_addressing one of the nurses_). You become your cap to-day. You have an uncommonly good color--I mean to operate on No. 21.
NURSE. Do you really? We thought her improving. She’s nervous to-day--on account of Dr. Thorne.
DR. CARVER. Yes. Thorne had things all his own way here, as usual. I mean to operate,--if Dr. Gazell can manage her.
NURSE (_coquettishly_). You are so expert,--such an easy surgeon. You don’t mind it more than a layman would carving a Christmas _goo_--oose. And what would you operate for--on No. 21?
NURSE. Really? You are so clever on diagnosis. Now, I hadn’t thought of appendicitis--in her case. Do you know--I thought it more like pleurisy?
DR. CARVER (_looks keenly at the nurse to discover if she is making game of him; speaks pompously_). The nurse, as you have been taught in your training-school, can have no opinions. Now, the physician--