“I don’t know how you will manage, doctor.”  He smiled deprecatingly.  “My mother positively refuses to see a physician, but we know she needs one.”

“You are her nearest relative?” Dr. Pettit queried gravely, almost formally.  His question had almost the air of securing a legal right for his entrance into the room.

“Oh, yes.”

“Very well,” and he stepped lightly to the side of the bed and stood looking down upon the sick woman.

He took out his watch, and I knew he was counting her respirations.  Then, with the same impersonal air, he turned to Dicky.

“It will be necessary to rouse her.  Will you awaken her, please?  Do not tell her I am here.  Simply waken her.”

Dicky bent over his mother and took her hand.

“Mother, what was it you wished me to get for you?”

The elder Mrs. Graham opened her eyes languidly.

“I told you quinine,” she said impatiently.  As she spoke, Dr. Pettit reached past Dicky.  His hand held a thermometer.

“Put this in your mouth, please.”  His air was as casual as if he had made daily visits to her for a fortnight.

But the elder Mrs. Graham was not to be so easily routed.  She scowled up at him and half rose from her pillow.

“I do not wish a physician.  I forbade having one called.  I am not ill enough for a physician.”

Dr. Pettit put out his left hand and gently put her back again upon her pillow.  It was done so deftly that I do not think she realized what he had done until she was again lying down.

“You must not excite yourself,” he said, still in the same grave, impersonal tone, “and you are more ill than you think.  It is absolutely necessary that I get your temperature and examine your lungs at once.”

As if the words had been a talisman of some sort, her opposition dropped from her.  Into her face came a frightened look.

“Oh, doctor, you don’t think I am going to have pneumonia, do you?”

I was amazed at the cry.  It was like that of a terrified child.  Dr. Pettit smiled down at her.

“We hope not.  We shall do our best to keep it away.  But you must help me.  Put this in your mouth, please.”

My mother-in-law obeyed him docilely.  But my heart sank as I watched the physician’s face.

Suddenly she cried out, “Richard!  Richard, if I am in danger of pneumonia, as this doctor thinks, I want a trained nurse here at once, one who has had experience in pneumonia cases.  Margaret means well, but threatened pneumonia with my heart needs more than good intentions.”

“Of course, mother,” Dicky acquiesced.  “I was just about to suggest one to Dr. Pettit.”

“But, doctor,” Dicky said anxiously when we followed him into the living room, “where are we to find a nurse?”

“Fortunately,” Dr. Pettit rejoined, “I have just learned that absolutely the best nurse I know is free.  Her name is Miss Katherine Sonnot, and her skill and common sense are only equalled by her exquisite tact.  She is just the person to handle the case, and if you will give me the use of your ’phone I think I can have her here within an hour.”