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I am having trouble following correctly this part of the book as to its logic it refers to.

M'boy, if I felt any better, I'd have to send for the doctor...

At first, it says under condition that if he was in the condition of being healthier he would have to send for the doctor, which doesn't make sense to me due to that if you feel any better ("some good" more than you are) there wouldn't exist the need of calling for a doctor. I do not know if I am missing something here.

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    What's the full context/source?
    – alphabet
    Commented Feb 27 at 19:23
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    To me, the implication is that the doctor would be no use except as a token measure.
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Feb 27 at 19:24
  • ... and depressed and suicidal.
    – Yosef Baskin
    Commented Feb 27 at 19:41
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    The meaning is literal: the speaker considers himself beyond medical help. But questions about interpreting ('comprehension' in traditional terminology) are properly asked on Literature.SE.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Feb 27 at 19:46
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    In the absence of a context, it sounds to me as if this is a case of a joke involving irony. The speaker's answer seems to indicate that he is feeling as well as healthy person can possibly be. If he felt any better, there would have to be something wrong and a doctor would have to be called.
    – Tuffy
    Commented Feb 27 at 20:24

2 Answers 2

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He's indicating he's dying. From the preceding paragraph (emphasis mine)

The minute I went in, I was sort of sorry I’d come. He was reading the Atlantic Monthly, and there were pills and medicine all over the place, and everything smelled like Vicks Nose Drops. It was pretty depressing. I’m not too crazy about sick people, anyway.

Spencer is the character saying the phrase, and from this paragraph, we can see Spencer is ill.

You're right that it sounds backwards, but he's trying to be clever without being dour to someone who has come to visit. You send for a doctor when you want to get better. If you're dying, no doctor can help you.

If he felt better (i.e. thought he would live longer) he'd send for the doctor. A bit of grim humor for an old friend.

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This is a very old joke, where a person makes light of their condition.

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