Page:The Death-Doctor.djvu/52

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40
THE DEATH-DOCTOR

varieties, from complete innocence to savage malignancy.

I strolled round to see him after Featherson had left me.

"Hullo, my dear friend," he greeted me with joy, shaking my hand. "Come and see the lance-shaped diplococcus; it's almost new to me." He knew that as a student I was interested, for I had studied several text-books on the subject, notably Muir and Ritchie's. A few minutes later I applied my eye to the microscope, and watched the little pairs of cocci under the cover-glass.

"What are these," I inquired with curiosity.

"Very deadly! Oh, very, very deadly," was the reply. "The pneumococcus, the germ of pneumonia, and incidentally of many other causes of rapid death."

The short lecture he then gave me imbued me with a great respect for the tiny little objects I could see so distinctly.

Later that night I had a stormy interview with Featherson, and though I left him with a gay bon soir my heart was full of thoughts of revenge. He was simply using me as a cat's-paw and taking all the prizes himself.

I could not, as I had dreamt of doing, go back to London, get qualified, and commence