NICHOLAS. To sacrifice yourself like that.

LATIMER. I? You don’t think I am going to sacrifice myself, do you? No, no, it’s Dominic.

DOMINIC (coming in). Yes, sir.

LATIMER. Dominic, are you ever ill?

DOMINIC. Never, sir, barring a slight shortness of the breath.

LATIMER (to the others). That’s awkward. I don’t think you can cosset a shortness of the breath.

NICHOLAS (to DOMINIC). I say, you could pretend to be ill, couldn’t you?

DOMINIC. With what object, sir?

NICHOLAS. Well—er——

LATIMER. Her ladyship is training to be a nurse. She has already cured two very obstinate cases of nasal catarrh accompanied by debility and a fluctuating temperature. If she brings one more case off successfully, she earns the diploma and the gold medal of the Royal Therapeutical Society.