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Page 27
CHAPTER V
MORE THAN ONE OPINION
"I want an opinion," said Burns, one night at dinner, "that shall
coincide with mine. Where do you suppose I'm going to find it?"
He had been more or less abstracted during the entire dinner. He now
offered, in a matter-of-fact tone, this explanation of his abstraction
much as he might have observed that he would like a partridge, if it had
happened to be in season.
"What's a ''pinion,' Uncle Red?" inquired his small ward, Bob. Bob's
six-year-old brain seemed to be always at work in the attempt to solve
problems.
"It's what somebody else thinks about a thing when it agrees with what
you think. When it doesn't agree it's a prejudice," replied Burns. He
forestalled further questioning from Bob by refilling his plate with the
things the boy liked best, and by continuing, himself:
"Grayson's idea about a certain case of mine is prejudice--pure
prejudice. Van Horn's is bluster. Field's is non-committal. Buller would
like to back me up--good old Buller--but is honestly convinced that I'm
making an awful mess of it. I want an opinion--a distinguished opinion."
"Why don't you send for it?" his wife asked.
Burns frowned. "That's the trouble. The more distinguished the opinion
I get the more my patient will have to pay for it, and he can't afford
to pay a tin dollar. At the same time--By George! There's Leaver! I
heard the other day that Leaver was at a sanitorium not a hundred miles
away,--there for a rest. I'll wager he's there with a patient for a few
days--at a good big price a day. Leaver never rests. He's made of steel
wires. I believe I'll have him up on the long-distance and see if I can't
get him to run over."
"Is it Dr. John Leaver of Baltimore you speak of?"
"It surely is. Do you happen to know him?"
"Slightly, and by reputation--a great reputation."
"Great? I should say so. Jack's been sawing wood without resting for ten
years. We were great chums in college, though he was two classes ahead
of me. I was with him again for a winter in Germany, when we were both
studying there. If I can get him over here for a day, I'll have an
opinion worth respecting, whether it happens to agree with mine or not.
And if it doesn't, I'll not call it prejudice."
He left the table to put in a long-distance call. Between the salad
and the dessert he was summoned to talk with his friend. Presently he
returned, chuckling.
"It must be fully ten minutes since I thought of Leaver, and now I have
him promised for to-morrow. I'll meet him in the city, give him the
history of the case at luncheon at the Everett, take him to the hospital
afterward, bring him out here to discuss things, and give him one of your
dinners. Then for a fine evening at our fireside. He's agreed to stay
overnight. I didn't expect that. He's usually in too much of a hurry to
linger long anywhere."
"He has never seemed in a hurry, when I have seen him," Ellen observed.
"He has such a quiet manner, and such a cool, calm way of looking at one,
I always thought he must have a wonderful command of himself."
"I always envied him that," admitted Red Pepper, stirring his coffee with
a thoughtful air. "I used to wish it were contagious, that splendid calm.
He never loses his head, as I do. Takes plenty of time to consider
everything, and plenty to get ready in. But when he does come to the
point of operating,--he's a wonder. Talk about rapidity and brilliancy!
And he never turns a hair. I've often wanted to count his pulse at a
crisis, when he'd found something unexpected--one of those times that
sends mine racing like a dynamo. He's as cool as a fish--outwardly, at
any rate. Well, it will be jolly to see him. I could hardly get his voice
to sound natural, over the 'phone. It seemed weak and thin. Poor service,
I suppose,--though he had no difficulty in hearing me, apparently."
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