Doctor Luttrells First Patient

Doctor Luttrell's First Patient, by
Rosa

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Doctor Luttrell's First Patient, by Rosa
Nouchette Carey
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: Doctor Luttrell's First Patient
Author: Rosa Nouchette Carey

Release Date: October 4, 2007 [eBook #22883]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOCTOR
LUTTRELL'S FIRST PATIENT***
E-text prepared by Al Haines

Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which

includes the original illustrations. See 22883-h.htm or 22883-h.zip:
(http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/2/8/8/22883/22883-h/22883-h.htm) or
(http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/2/8/8/22883/22883-h.zip)

DOCTOR LUTTRELL'S FIRST PATIENT
by
ROSA NOUCHETTE CAREY
Author of "Little Miss Muffet," "Cousin Mona," "The Mistress of Brae
Farm," "Esther," Etc.

[Frontispiece: "I hope you do not think I was wrong?"]

Philadelphia J. B. Lippincott Company 1900
Copyright, 1896, by J. B. Lippincott Company.

Contents.
CHAPTER I.
AT THE CORNER HOUSE
CHAPTER II.
THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER
CHAPTER III.
AUNT MADGE

CHAPTER IV.
DR. LUTTRELL'S FIRST PATIENT
CHAPTER V.
A VISIT TO GALVASTON HOUSE
CHAPTER VI.
"I REMIND YOU OF SOMEONE?"
CHAPTER VII.
BLOWING BUBBLES
CHAPTER VIII.
"'TIS A LOVE TOKEN, I RECKON"
CHAPTER IX.
THE CHRISTMAS GUEST
CHAPTER X.
A GENTLEMANLY TRAMP
CHAPTER XI.
THE NIGHT-BELL RINGS
CHAPTER XII.
GRETA
CHAPTER XIII.

FRESH COMPLICATIONS
CHAPTER XIV.
AN EVENTFUL DAY
CHAPTER XV.
"THEY WERE BOTH TO BLAME"
CHAPTER XVI.
BUSY DAYS
CHAPTER XVII.
PRODIGAL SONS
CHAPTER XVIII.
AUNT MADGE GIVES HER OPINION
CHAPTER XIX.
DAME FORTUNE SMILES
CHAPTER XX.
"SOMEBODY'S CRUTCH"
CHAPTER XXI.
SUNSHINE AND CLOUDS
CHAPTER XXII.
"YOU MUST NOT LOSE HEART"

CHAPTER XXIII.
"I HAVE COME TO STAY"
CHAPTER XXIV.
"NOT YET"

Illustrations
"I hope you do not think I am wrong?" . . . Frontispiece
"Oh, Marcus, how happy we are!"
"Olive, look what Mr. Gaythorne has given me"
Mr. Gaythorne sat in his great ebony chair
"It is beautiful--it is perfectly charming!"
"They both looked so comfortable and contented"

Doctor Luttrell's First Patient
CHAPTER I.
AT THE CORNER HOUSE.
"Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you
wish."--Epictetus.
There is an old adage, worn almost threadbare with continual use,
"When poverty looks in at the door, love flies out at the window," and,
doubtless, there is an element of truth in the saying; nevertheless,
though there were lines of care on Marcus Luttrell's face, and in the

strong sunlight the seams of his wife's black gown looked a little shiny,
there was still peace, and the patience of a great and enduring affection
in the corner house at Galvaston Terrace.
When the brass plate, glittering with newness, had been first affixed to
the door, Marcus Luttrell's heart had been sanguine with hope, and he
had brought his young fiancée to see it. The small, narrow house, with
its dark, square entry, its double parlours communicating with
folding-doors, and the corner room, that would do for a surgery, had
seemed to them both a most desirable abode.
Olivia, who prided herself on being unusually practical, pointed out its
numerous advantages with great satisfaction. The side entrance in
Harbut Street, for instance, and the front room where patients would be
interviewed, and which had a window in Galvaston Terrace.
"It is so conspicuous, Marcus," she said, with legitimate pride in her
voice. "No one can overlook it, it is worth paying a few pounds more
rent, instead of being jammed in between two terrace houses. Harbut
Street is ever so much nicer than Galvaston Terrace, and the houses are
larger, and it is so convenient having those shops opposite."
Olivia was disposed to see everything in couleur de rose, but to most
people Galvaston Terrace would have appeared woefully dingy. Two or
three of the houses had cards in the sitting-room windows, with
"Desirable apartments for a single gentleman" affixed thereon, and at
the farther end a French dressmaker eked out a slender income.
The Terrace had by no means a prosperous look, a little fresh paint and
cleaner blinds would have been improvements. Nevertheless, people
lived out harmless lives there, and on the whole were tolerably
contented with their lot.
When Marcus Luttrell made that fatal mistake of marrying in haste and
repenting at leisure, things had not looked so badly with him. He had
bought his partnership and had a little money in hand, and Olivia had
had sufficient for her modest trousseau. How could either of them have
suspected that the partnership was a deceit and a fraud--that old Dr.

Slade had let Marcus in for a rotten concern--that no paying patients
would crowd the small dining-room--and that two years of professional
profits would be represented