The story
“The village blacksmith’s one sorrow was due to the fact that his daughter was a hopeless invalid. She suffered from an affliction of the spine, and the local practitioners could afford no relief. One day there came a ray of hope: a wonderful specialist from the great city came to the town. He had been summoned to attend the wife of a wealthy man, who owned a vast estate where he resided in summer. Perhaps he might be able to help; so the blacksmith went to the great house and was lucky enough to find the doctor, just as he was departing. The great practitioner was in an unpleasant mood. His wealthy patient was one of those women who delight in thinking they are sick, and after a brief examination he had gruffly told her so. The doctor was wealthy and the fee was a matter of unimportance. What he resented was losing his time, and he was anxious to get back to the city, so he hardly listened to the blacksmith, told him he had just time to get the train, and hurried off down a country lane.
“A few minutes later, while passing through a lonely part of the road, the doctor was attacked. At first he thought he had fallen into the hands of robbers, but his assailant said he was the man who accosted him at the ‘great house,’ and unless he came and treated his ‘little gal’ he, the doctor, would never get back to the city alive. The doctor was impressed with the blacksmith’s anxiety, and consented to accompany him. When he met his patient-to-be, he was struck with her beauty and sweetness, and readily agreed to give her the best of care. Interested in both his patient and her ease, he worked hard to bring about a cure, and one day, while they were seated at the waterfront, he told her she had fully recovered. She could not believe him; he then walked for a few paces away, told her he loved her and wanted to marry her. He knew that she loved him by the way she listened to the words he said, so he tried his final experiment. Holding out his arms to her he said, ‘Throw away your crutch and come to me.’ With love in her heart she obeyed him, and the doctor’s patient was well and happy again.”
Summary from The Moving Picture World · 10 July 1915
