He tapped
at the old man's window, which, after some delay and a good deal of
grumbling, was at length opened to him. The hut consisted of only one
room--a fact which Barney well knew.
"Who is there?" said the old herbalist. "Why do you come at this hour to
deprive me of my rest? Nobody comes for any good purpose at such an hour
as this."
"Open your door, you hypocritical old sinner, and I will speak to you.
Open your door instantly."
"Wait, then; I will open it; to be sure--I will open it; because I know
whoever you are that if there was not something extraordinary in it, it
isn't at this hour you'd be coming to me."
"Open the door I say, and then I shall speak to you."
The window, which the old herbalist had opened, and, in the hurry of
the moment, left unshut, remained unshut, and Barney, after Woodward had
entered, stood close to it in order to hear the conversation which might
pass between them.
"Now," said Woodward, after he had entered the hut, "I want a dose
from you. One of my dogs, I fear, is seized with incipient symptoms of
hydrophobia, and I wish to dose him to death.
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