And when they were gone, as they were before that day I talked wi' him, things looked black indeed for Jamie and the bit family he was tryin' to raise.
He could see no way oot.

And then, one nicht, there came a knocking at the door.

It was the doctor--a kindly, brusque man, who'd been in the army once.

He was popular, but it was because he made his patients afraid of him, some said.

They got well because they were afraid to disobey him.