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VI
Dr. Armstrong was driving his Morris across Salisbury Plain. He was very tired … Success had
its penalties. There had been a time when he had sat in his consulting room in Harley Street,
furnishings and waited—waited through the empty days for his venture to succeed or fail….
at his job—but that wasn’t enough for success. You had to have luck as well. And he’d had it!
—and word had got about. “You ought to try Armstrong—quite a young man—but so clever—
Pam had been to all sorts of people for years and he put his finger on the trouble at once!” The
ball had started rolling.
And now Dr. Armstrong had definitely arrived. His days were full. He had little leisure.
And so, on this August morning, he was glad that he was leaving London and going to be for
some days on an island off the Devon coast. Not that it was exactly a holiday. The letter he had
received had been rather vague in its terms, but there was nothing vague about the
difficulty, it seemed, a husband who was worried about his wife’s health and wanted a report on
it without her being alarmed. She wouldn’t hear of seeing a doctor. Her nerves—
for business after all. Half the women who consulted him had nothing the matter with them but
something.
needs just putting right. A simple treatment.”
Well, medicine was mostly faith-healing when it came to it. And he had a good manner—
he could inspire hope and belief.
Lucky that he’d managed to pull himself together in time after that business ten—no,
fifteen years ago. It had been a near thing, that! He’d been going to pieces. The shock had
pulled him together. He’d cut out drink altogether. By Jove, it had been a near thing, though….
With a devastating8 ear-splitting blast on the horn an enormous Super-Sports Dalmain car
rushed past him at eighty miles an hour. Dr. Armstrong nearly went into the hedge. One of
these young fools who tore round the country. He hated them. That had been a near shave, too.
Damned young fool!
6
阿姆斯特朗医生开着莫里斯汽车驶过索尔兹伯里平原。他万分疲惫……人难免为名声
所累。回想当年刚入行的时候，他穿戴整齐地坐在装修漂亮、门可罗雀的候诊室里，独守
着崭新的医疗设备，深感前途渺茫，不知何时才能熬出头。
终于，他成功了。好运再加上高明的医术，让他总算熬出头了！他对专业确实精通，
不过单凭这个还不够，成名还要靠运气。而他偏偏赶上了好运！有一次，他快速准确地为
病人确诊，之后又遇到了两三个感恩戴德的女病人——既有钱，又有人脉的上层人士——
有关他医术高超之类的赞美就从此传开了。“你应该去找阿姆斯特朗医生，虽然他年纪不
大，可是经验丰富极了。帕姆的病找过好几个医生，治了好几年，经他一诊治就好转
了！”从此，阿姆斯特朗的事业可谓一帆风顺。
现在，他的诊室门庭若市，每天的预约都排得很满。因此，能在炎热的八月离开伦
敦，前往德文郡附近的小岛吹海风，他自然喜出望外。不过，此行不完全是度假。他收到
的信件内容含糊其辞，随信附上的支票金额也出人意料。欧文家想必家境殷实，否则不会
一下子开出如此高额的支票。从信的内容看，男主人不放心妻子的身体健康，又怕自己的
担心吓到胆小的妻子，因此请医生上门为她检查，但是要装成是普通客人，不和她提起治
病之类的话。以免让她神经——
神经。医生扬起眉毛。女人和她们脆弱的神经。不过嘛，这对生意有好处。反正找他
看病的女人至少有一半是什么毛病也说不出来，纯属大惊小怪。但是对于这种女病人，实
话实说可不会得到感谢，幸亏他总能编出一套说辞应付她们：
“你的情况属于一种什么（总之是非常拗口的医学名词），稍微有点儿不正常——不过
不严重。还是需要治疗的，但是并不复杂。”
坦白说，所谓的药效其实是信则有，不信则无。然而，他的方法总能让病人寄予希望
和信任。
幸好过了十年，那桩事总算过去了——不，都有十五年了。那件事让他一只脚已经跨
到了悬崖外面。幸好从那以后，他洗心革面，从此滴酒不沾。可是有时想起来，仿佛就发
生在昨天……
伴随着震耳欲聋的喇叭声，一辆达尔曼超级跑车以每小时八十英里的速度与他擦肩而
过，害得他差点儿撞到路边的围栏上。又是一个无法无天的傻瓜！他讨厌这种年轻人，这
次又差点儿被这种人撞到。这群该死的笨蛋！
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