Page:Armistice Day.djvu/431

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THE UNSEEN HOST
409

The Visitor. There ought to be an elevator.

The Surgeon. Yes.

The Visitor. Put one in. Send me the bill.

The Surgeon (nodding). Thank you. We need it badly. (The Orderly leaves the room by the first door.) These old houses, very picturesque, very ornamental—

The Visitor. But no conveniences?

The Surgeon. The men who built them didn't know the meaning of the word. We felt that when we turned this into a hospital. Think of it: it used to be a show place! Not much left of it now. There was a bed here—right where you are sitting; one of those great, big, canopied affairs—

The Visitor. Unsanitary.

The Surgeon. Very. That's why I had it taken out. But Henry of Navarre had spent a night in it.

The Visitor. Even Henry of Navarre had to give way to modern efficiency!

The Surgeon (nodding). Yes. (He points to the door through which The Orderly has gone.) That was his anteroom the next morning. Can you picture it? The courtiers: the crowds of lords and ladies: the nobility of France waiting to greet His Majesty!

The Visitor (strolling over). Nothing like that to-day, is there?