"Nurse Wade, we know of old the purity and vigour of your circulating fluid.

You shall have the honour of advancing science once more.

Hold up your finger." Hilda held up her forefinger unhesitatingly.

She was used to such requests; and, indeed, Sebastian had acquired by long experience the faculty of pinching the finger-tip so hard, and pressing the point of a needle so dexterously into a minor vessel, that he could draw at once a small drop of blood without the subject even feeling it.
The Professor nipped the last joint between his finger and thumb for a moment till it was black at the end; then he turned to the saucer at his side, which Hilda herself had placed there, and chose from it, cat-like, with great deliberation and selective care, a particular needle.

Hilda's eyes followed his every movement as closely and as fearlessly as ever.