The Country Doctor
THE COUNTRY DOCTOR BY HONORE DE BALZAC Translated by Ellen Marriage and Clara Bell "For a wounded heart--shadow and silence." To my Mother
the bank to watch, and again fell fast asleep.
Now Johnny Sprigg had missed his little duck, and knew some one had
shot it; so he thought this morning he would go the brook and watch
for the man who had killed the duck, and make him pay a good price for
it. Johnny was a big man, whose head was very bald; therefore he wore
a red curly wig to cover his baldness and make him look younger.
When he got to the brook he saw no one about, and so he hid in a clump
of bushes. After a time the little man woke up, and in looking around
for the drake he saw Johnny's red wig sticking out of the top of the
bushes.
"That is surely the drake," he thought, "for I can see a curl and
something red;" and the next minute "bang!" went the gun, and Johnny
Sprigg gave a great yell and jumped out of the bushes. As for his
beautiful wig, it was shot right off his head, and fell into the water
of the brook a good ten yards away!
"What are you trying to do?" he cried, shaking his fist at the little
man.
"Why, I was only shooting at the drake," replied Jimson; "and I hit
it, too, for there it is in the water.
"That 's my wig, sir!" said Johnny Sprigg, "and you shall pay for it,
THE COUNTRY DOCTOR BY HONORE DE BALZAC Translated by Ellen Marriage and Clara Bell "For a wounded heart--shadow and silence." To my Mother