He ordered a whisky and soda from the servant, and then sat down near me.
"Rheumatism no better, Major ?" I asked.
"No, I went to see old Bell about it again yesterday, but he pooh-poohs it and tells me to go on rubbing in the liniment and get the footman to help when I am tired.

Well, I obeyed orders, but it hasn't done me much good, and how the deuce rheumatism can give a fellow a bruise on the leg, I don't know." "A bruise on the leg ?" I said astonished.
"Yes, a bruise on the leg, and, if you don't believe me, look here," and, dragging up his trouser, he showed me below the knee a large inflamed patch of a dusky hue, in the centre of which one of the veins could be felt to be hard and swollen.
"Has Sir John Bell seen that ?" I asked.
"Not he.

I wanted him to look at it, but he was in a hurry, and said I was just like an old woman with a sore on show, so I gave it up." "Well, if I were you, I'd go home and insist upon his coming to look at it." "What do you mean, doctor ?" he asked growing alarmed at my manner.
"Oh, it is a nasty place, that is all; and I think that when Sir John has seen it, he will tell you to keep quiet for a few days." Major Selby muttered something uncomplimentary about Sir John, and then asked me if I would come home with him.
"I can't do that as a matter of medical etiquette, but I'll see you into a cab.

No, I don't think I should drink that whisky if I were you, you want to keep yourself cool and quiet." So Major Selby departed in his cab and I went home, and, having nothing better to do, turned up my notes on various cases of venous thrombosis, or blood-clot in the veins, which I had treated at one time or another.
While I was still reading them there came a violent ring at the bell, followed by the appearance of a very agitated footman, who gasped out:-- "Please, sir, come to my master, Major Selby, he has been taken ill." "I can't, my good man," I answered, "Sir John Bell is his doctor." "I have been to Sir John's, sir, but he has gone away for two days to attend a patient in the country, and the Major told me to come for you." Then I hesitated no longer.

As we hurried to the house, which was close at hand, the footman told me that the Major on reaching home took a cup of tea and sent for a cab to take him to Sir John Bell.