They limp along with slow feet." It was a gloomy room.

The chairs, lounges and tables had a venerable look like that of the men who came there with warped legs and old mahogany faces.

The red rugs and hangings suggested "the effect of old port on the human countenance, being of a hue like unto that of many cheeks and noses in the waiting company," as the young man wrote.

The door to the private room of the great physician creaked on its hinges with a kind of groan when he came out accompanied by a limping patient.
"Wait here for a minute--a gout minute," said Franklin to his young friend.

"When Pringle dismisses me, I will present you." Jack sat and waited while the room filled with ruddy, crotchety gentlemen supported by canes or crutches--elderly, old and of middle age.