ire's all out in the
range, anyway. But I'll go and start it with my own hands--"
_Mrs. Campbell:_ "In those gloves! You're crazy, Agnes! Edward, I'll
tell you what Willis does, when he's out of sorts a little: he takes a
taste of whiskey-and-water. He says nothing freshens him up like it."
_Roberts_: "That's a good idea."
_Mrs. Roberts_, bustling into the dining-room and reappearing with a
tumbler and a decanter: "The very thing, Amy! And thank you _so_ much.
Trying to make Edward remember seems to put everything out of my head! I
might have thought of _whiskey_, though! If it's only loss of sleep, it
will wake him up, and if it's grippe, it's the most nourishing thing in
the world."
_Roberts:_ "I'm not going to have the grippe, Agnes."
_Mrs. Roberts:_ "Edward! Don't boast! You may be stricken down in an
instant. I heard of one person who was taken so suddenly she hadn't time
to get her things off, and tumbled right on the bed. You must put some
water in it, of course; and hot water is very soothing. You can use some
out of the pipes; it's perfectly good."
_Mrs. Campbell:_ "Agnes, are you _never_ coming?"
_Roberts:_ "Yes, go along, Agnes, do! I shall get on quite well, now.
You needn't wait."
_Mrs. Roberts:_ "Oh, if I could only stay and think _for_ you, dearest!
But I can't, and you must do the best you can. Do keep repeating it all
over! It's the only way--"
_Mrs. Campbell_, from the door: "Agnes!"
_Mrs. Roberts:_ "Amy, I'm coming instantly."
_Mrs. Campbell:_ "I declare I shall go without you!"
_Mrs. Roberts:_ "And I shouldn't blame you a bit, Amy! And _if_ it turns
out to be the grippe, Edward, don't lose an instant. Send for the doctor
as fast as the district messenger can fly; give him his car fare, and
let one come for me; and jump into bed and cover up warm, and keep up
the nourishment with the whiskey; there's another bottle in the
sideboard; and perhaps you'd better break a raw egg in it. I heard of
one person that they gave three dozen raw eggs a day to in typhoid
fever, and even _then_ he died; so you must nourish yourself all you
can. And--"
_Mrs. Campbell:_ "Agnes! I'm going!"
_Mrs. Roberts:_ "I'm coming! Edward!"
_Roberts:_ "Well?"
_Mrs. Roberts:_ "There is something else, very important. And I can't
think of it!"
_Roberts:_ "Liebig's extract of beef?"
_Mrs. Roberts_, distractedly: "No, no! And it wasn't oysters, either,
though they're very nourishing, too. Oh, de
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