The Cape Doctor by E. J. Levy

Author:E. J. Levy [Levy, E. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Published: 2020-11-10T00:00:00+00:00

I asked the porters many questions and took still more notes. “Don’t touch,” they might say of a thorned or toxic plant, or “Good for fever, and tea.” Eventually they seemed to lose interest in my presence altogether, ignoring me as one of their own. A blissful obscurity.

But Lord Somerton did not grow accustomed to my delays. He grew irritated by my obsessive collecting and cataloguing en route. He took to harassing me with questions, riding up beside me, raising a choking cloud of dust, as I walked behind the entourage.

“What in the world are you looking for, Doctor? Have you become a gardener now?”

“Medicinal plants could be invaluable in treating the local population,” I replied, not looking up from the specimens of leaves and roots I was collecting. “The tropical climes are a veritable pharmacopoeia.”

He suggested that if I wanted to know about local plants, I’d do better to consult with a local farmer. “They know all there is to know about the local plants and their uses. Perhaps you would prefer to consult a witch doctor?”

He tried to disguise his irritation as amusement, his chiding as a joke, but he resented the disorder, rebellion, the refusal to fall into line.

I smiled, refusing to be baited into argument. “I’ve found it best not to credit others’ opinions, but to form my own,” I said, repeating Sir Astley Cooper’s phrase. “The truth of principles must be confirmed by observation,” my watchword.

“And what opinion have you formed of me?” he asked.

“It’s a very complicated case. I’m still deliberating.”

He laughed. “Let me know when you arrive at a diagnosis.” He spurred his horse, cantered ahead despite the uneven ground.

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