“How do you do, Mrs. Slocum?” Doctor Gordon said politely.

James rose, Gordon introduced him.  Mrs. Slocum did not bow, she jerked her great chin upward, then she spoke with really alarming ferocity.  “Where has my boarder went?  That’s what I want to know.  That’s what I have come here for, not for no bowin’s and scrapin’s.  Where has my boarder went?”

A keen look came into Gordon’s face.  “I don’t know who your boarder is, Mrs. Slocum,” he said.

CHAPTER X

Mrs. Slocum looked at the doctor with a wide gape of surprise.

“Thought you knew,” said she.  “His name is Meserve, Mr. Edward Meserve, and if he has come and went, and not told where, he was good pay, and if he was took sick whilst he was to my house, I could have asked twice as much as I did before.  I’d like to know what right you had to take my boarder to the hotel.  He was my boarder.  He wan’t your boarder.  I want him fetched right back.  That’s what I have came for.”

“Mrs. Slocum,” said Gordon in a hard voice, “Mr. Meserve is too sick to be moved, and his disease may be contagious.  You might lose all your other boarders, and whether he recovers or not, you would be obliged to fumigate your house, and have his room repapered and plastered.”

“He’s got money enough to pay for it,” Mrs. Slocum said doggedly.

“How do you know?”

“You think he ain’t?”

Gordon looked imperturbable.

“He always paid me regular, and he ain’t been to meals or to home nights two-thirds of the time.”

Gordon said nothing.

“You mean if my other boarders went, and the room had to be done over, he ain’t got money enough to make it good?”

Gordon said nothing.  The woman fidgeted.  “Well,” said she, “if there’s any doubt of it, mebbe he is better off here.”  Suddenly she gave a suspicious glance at Gordon.  “Say,” said she, “the room here will have to be done over.  Who’s goin’ to pay for that?”

“The room is isolated,” replied Gordon briefly.

The woman stared.  She evidently did not know the meaning of the word.

“Well,” said she at last, “if the room is insulted, it will have to be done over.  Who’s going to pay for that?”

“I am.”

“Well, I don’t see why you couldn’t pay me for that as well as Mr. Evans.”

“Don’t you?”

“No.”

“Well, I do.  Now, Mrs. Slocum, I really have no more time to waste.  Mr. Meserve is a very sick man, and I have to go to him.  I came down here to consult with my assistant, and you have hindered us.  Good-day!”

But the woman still stood her ground.  “I’m goin’ to see him,” she said.  “He’s my boarder.”

“You will do so at your own risk, and also, if your call should prove injurious to him, at a risk of being indicted for manslaughter, besides possibly catching the disease.”