The Outsider Page #2

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Well!

I think I realised then, for the first

time, that I was a father.

When I heard that my own little daughter

was in unqualified hands...

...brutal, blundering hands.

- I'm sorry, Sturdee.

- I hurried back, but...

...well, in those days there were no aeroplanes

to cut the world in half.

And before I could reach her, the child's

hip, dislocated at birth...

...which - after all - is a simple

matter to put right.

- If it's done at once.

- Yes, but it was not.

This ignorant quack had so damaged the hip socket by his

twisting and turnings, that nothing could be done.

My little daughter, who smiled and...

...dragged herself onto my knee to kiss me...

...was lame for life.

A cripple.

One can hardly believe she is a cripple.

She has so much charm and spirit.

And a very great gift.

I think we forget it often - but she never does.

I don't like to make the suggestion now, but I came here

to ask you if we couldn't use this man's invention to...

...help her in some way?

I'd try anything that wasn't downright risky.

But you know yourself, how easily you can

destroy the nerve part of the leg.

Then she'd be entirely paralysed.

No, no, Nathan. I've had enough of

quacks. I won't meet any of them.

I hate the type.

You go and probe this man's beastly claims.

I'm not interested in him - and that's final.

Well?

I'm sorry, madam - I cannot do the impossible.

Oh, but you can.

You've done things no other man could.

I know my trade.

I can't do this.

But won't you even try?

Won't you take a chance?

It's not me that's taking the chance, madam.

It's you and your little girl.

Where is that crook?

He's ruined me!

He's made me useless!

I warn you! All of you!

Before I met Ragatzy, I could walk.

Now I can't.

You swindler!

Now, please...

- Swine!

- ...please!

Before you treated Captain Witcherley, at

least he had the use of one leg.

Now he hasn't even that.

He's serving you with a writ...

...for criminal negligence.

He hasn't got any case against me.

I didn't want to treat him. I knew

it was hopeless.

But he implored me.

He told me that he's got no brains.

And that if he cannot walk,

he would starve...

...because he wouldn't be able to

run his farm in Kenya.

What?!

So, like a fool I took him on.

But I didn't neglect him. I fought

a good fight for him!

And I lost.

I'm going to tell the Royal

College of Surgeons.

So am I.

And tell them that, sometimes,

I fail - just like a doctor.

That's all you can tell them.

Except that you took a chance at

your own risk - and lost.

And you aren't sportsman enough

to lose like an Englishman.

Yes, well - if that's your idea of sport...

...this is mine!

Huh.

If it would give you back the

use of your legs...

...I'd let you hit the other cheek, too.

And now - good day.!

We haven't finished with you yet!

Now listen to me. All of you.

You heard what that poor man said.

You heard his warning.

Very well, then.

If you don't any more believe

that I can cure you...

...you can go after him.

Thank you.

Madam.

I've told you that I cannot

cure your little girl.

Just as I told him.

Thank you for telling me the truth.

- Goodbye.

- Goodbye.

- Goodbye.

- Goodbye.

Humphries.

Don't let me forget my appointment

with those doctors tomorrow.

- For once, I want to be in time.

- Yes, sir.

Five minutes late, already.

He would be.

Well...

...nobody can say we are prejudiced - coming

here when Sturdee wouldn't.

What does the fellow call this

fantastic invention of his?

He calls it the "Ragatzy Rack".

Huh.

A catch-word to get publicity.

The man belongs to the Middle

Ages - the Inquisition.

The burning of heretics!

I admit he might have given

it a... a kinder name.

It's a machine that, um...

...straightens out and er... stretches

crooked limbs.

Now what would we have called it?

A "perambulatory automatic electrical extension".

For the reduction of, er...

...femoral congenital dislocation...

...and lateral curvature.

Well, at least the public wouldn't

know what it meant.

- Mr Ragatzy.

- Ah!

Good afternoon, gentlemen.

I must apologise for being a trifle late.

Please, don't apologise.

We quite understand.

- Ah, Dr Ladd!

- How d'you do, how d'you do?

And, er... now I must introduce

you to my colleagues.

Sir Montague Tollemach - Mr Ragatzy.

Mr Helmore. Sir Nathan Israel.

Mr Wilson.

Dr Langley and Mr Kinley. Dr Murray.

I'm very honoured that you meet me.

But where is Mr Sturdee?

I hoped above all that he'd be here.

Mr Sturdee was called away to Newcastle,

to perform an operation.

Oh, but I read that he returned

to London last night.

Oh.

So he won't meet me?

Well, will you please tell me why?

Why not?

Why not?

Mr Ragatzy.

I think perhaps we had better tell you

that his only daughter...

- ...is a cripple.

- What?

He is a master of surgery, and he has a

daughter that he cannot cure?

Huh! That puts him in rather

a stupid situation!

That shows how much good his

degree does for him.

Her incurable condition is due to

an unqualified practitioner.

Who attended her when she was a child.

Ah, so he hates us all indiscriminately, eh?

I think I've heard of this girl.

- Doesn't she make music?

- Yes.

Isn't she the Lalage Sturdee who wrote the

musical version of "School for Scandal"?

She is.

Oh! But what music, gentlemen.

That aria of Lady Teazel's - exquisite!

Oh, well...

...we're not here to talk about

music, but about me.

She's quite a celebrity.

What a patient for me!

"Ragatzy cures famous surgeon's daughter".

Good publicity, eh?

We're not here to discuss the effect of

your surgery on the daily press...

...but to examine your knowledge, and your---

"Famous Electra-Therapeutic Ragatzy Rack".

You fall in love with him when you see him.

I fetch him now.

Here she is, gentlemen.

Isn't she beautiful?

And all made by my own brains -

and my own hands.

It's certainly very well made.

Now I make some explanations.

- If you please, Dr Ladd.

- Certainly.

The mechanism inside is worked

from an ordinary power plug.

Now...

...we switch on.

Now she's going.

The energy created by the machinery...

...is carried through these flexible tubes...

...to the stretching apparatus.

You can't see any movement at all...

...because she only pulls one ten-thousandth

part of an inch, every hour.

But she's going all the time.

She's gentle, eh?

A little stronger.

Hmm. Very ingenious.

I'd have liked Sturdee to have seen this.

Oh, he wouldn't look at it.

But now that you're satisfied...

...you'll send me lots of patients. Eh?

- Well, Tolle?

- Well, what's wrong, gentlemen?

- You tell him, Tolle.

- No, you, Nathan.

Mr Ragatzy.

My colleagues and I are satisfied that your...

...Rack is the most beautifully

made thing of its kind.

Oh, she's not a "kind" - she's unique!

But there are one or two other points.

The first concerns your fees.

Yes?

Sometimes you've charged as much

as... five hundred guineas!

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