And where it would have been
impolitic to refuse a new and influential patient, some one on his list
--a doubtful payer or a valetudinarian--was gently to be let drop. And
it was Mary who arranged who this should be. Some umbrage was bound to
be given in the process; but with her help it was reduced to a minimum.
For Mary knew by heart all the links and ramifications of the houses at
which he visited; knew precisely who was related to whom, by blood or
marriage or business; knew where offence might with safety be risked,
and where it would do him harm. She had also a woman's tact in smoothing
things over. A born doctor's wife, declared Mahony in grateful
acknowledgment. For himself he could not keep such fiddling details in
his head for two minutes on end.
But though he thus succeeded in setting bounds to his activity, he still
had a great deal too much to do; and, in tired moments, or when tic
plagued him, thought the sole way out of the impasse would be to
associate some one with him as partner or assistant. And once he was
within an ace of doing so, chance throwing what he considered a likely
person across his path. In attending a coroner's inquest, he made the
acquaintance of a member of the profession who was on his way from the
Ovens district--a coach journey of well over two hundred miles--to a
place called Walwala, a day's ride to the west of Ballarat. And since
this was a pleasant-spoken man and intelligent--though with a somewhat
down-at-heel look--besides being a stranger to the town, Mahony
impulsively took him home to dinner.
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