“Doctor!” The woman was out of breath and dishevelled as she appeared at the door of my surgery. “You must come quickly!”
I reached for my bag. “Whatever is the matter?”
“There’s been a terrible accident.” The woman was in distress, with her hair loose beneath her hat and her eyes wild. “She’s lying there, all covered in blood.”
“Take me to her.” I closed and locked the surgery door, for, in the Grassmarket, an open door was merely an invitation to thieves. “Calm yourself now, and tell me what happened.”
It was hardly past six in the morning, and I had just stepped into the surgery, with only a few traders’ carts in the streets and the closes empty. A stray dog slinked past, intent on its own business.
“It was so sudden.” The woman could not be quietened as she gabbled her news to me.
