a
quarter to ten
He is so perfectly confident that he can cure them , that he makes them perfectly confident that they can be cured ; and you know how in nervous cases the mind reacts upon the body . If he chose to preserve crutches and sticks , as they do in the mediaeval churches , he might , I am sure , paper his consulting room with them . A favourite device of his with an impressionable patient is to name the exact hour of their cure . `` My dear , '' he will say , swaying some girl about by the shoulders , with his nose about three inches from hers , `` you 'll feel better to-morrow at a quarter to ten , and at twenty past you 'll be as well as ever you were in your life . Now , keep your eye on the clock , and see if I am not right . '' Next day , as likely as not , her mother will be in , weeping tears of joy ; and another miracle has been added to Cullingworth 's record . It may smell of quackery , but it is exceedingly useful to the patient .