The blow he had struck her on the
side of the head turned out to be more serious than was at first
anticipated, and Selina deemed it advisable that a doctor should be
called in. So Archie went into Ballarat, and returned to the
Pactolus with Dr Gollipeck, an eccentric medical practitioner, whose
peculiarities were the talk of the city.
Dr Gollipeck was tall and lank, with an unfinished look about him,
as if Nature in some sudden freak had seized an incomplete skeleton
from a museum and hastily covered it with parchment. He dressed in
rusty black, wore dingy cotton gloves, carried a large white
umbrella, and surveyed the world through the medium of a pair of
huge spectacles. His clothes were constantly coming undone, as he
scorned the use of buttons, and preferred pins, which were always
scratching his hands. He spoke very little, and was engaged in
composing an erudite work on 'The Art of Poisoning, from Borgia to
Brinvilliers'.
Selina was not at all impressed with his appearance, and mentally
decided that a good wash and a few buttons would improve him
wonderfully. Dr Gollipeck, however, soon verified the adage that
appearances are deceptive--as Selina afterwards remarked to Archie--
by bringing Madame Midas back to health in a wonderfully short space
of time. She was now convalescent, and, seated in the arm-chair by
the window, looked dreamily at the landscape.
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