asant to think about at first; but there came a
time when my mind was chiefly occupied in resenting Titherington's
thoughtlessness. He had no right to go off on a long expedition without
leaving me the key of the bag in which we kept the champagne. I felt the
need of a stimulant so badly that I ventured to ask McMeekin, who
called just before I went to bed, to allow me half a glass of Burgundy.
Burgundy would not have been nearly as good for me as champagne, but it
would have been better than nothing. McMeekin sternly forbade anything
of the sort, and I heard him tell the nurse to give me barley water when
I asked for a drink. This is another proof that McMeekin ought to be
in an asylum for idiots. Barley water would depress me and make me
miserable even if I were in perfect health.

As a set-off against Titherington's thoughtlessness and McMeekin's
imbecility, I noticed that during the day the nurse became gradually
less obnoxious. I began to see that she had some good points and that
she meant well by me, though she still did things of which I could not
possibly approve. She insisted, for instance, that I should wash my
face, a wholly unnecessary exertion which exhausted me greatly and might
easily have given me cold. Still I disliked her less than I did before,
and felt, toward evening that she was becoming quite tolerable. I always
like to give praise to any one who deserves it, especially if I have
been obliged previously to speak in a different way. After I got
into bed I congratulated her on the improvement I had noticed in her
character and disposition. She replied that she was delighted to see
that I was beginning to pick up a little. The idea in her mind evidently
was that no change had taken place in her but that I was shaking off a
mood of irritable pessimism, one of the symptoms of my disease. I did
not argue with her though I knew that she was quite wrong. There really
was a change in her and I had all along kept a careful watch over my
temper.

The day after that, being, I believe, the eighth of my illness, I got up
at eleven o'clock and put on a pair of trousers under my dressing-gown.
McMeekin, backed by the nurse, insisted on my sending for a barber to
shave me. I did not like the barber, for, like all his tribe, he
was garrulous and I had to appeal to the nurse to stop him talking.
Afterward I was very glad I had endured him. Lalage and Hilda called
on me at two o'clock, and I should not have liked t