"Never mind, I know what it is; have been talking it over in the next room. Want to be quiet, natural; sick people always do. Hate to have a lot of old women screeching over the baby, and asking questions enough to drive a Christian mother into Bedlam—natural again, why not? nuisance—women ought to be prohibited as a sex by act of Congress—a few exceptions, no doubt; but patriotic women are ready to be flung overboard for the general good."
Katharine looked a little bewildered, and quite weary. She was thinking about her own troubles, and had not strength enough for any thing else.
"Did any one ask you about us, doctor?"
"About you? no—about where I was going, fifty."
"And you told them?"
"Yes, of course I told 'em; why not?"
Katharine turned very white, and gasped for breath.
"You told them about me—about my baby?"
"Bah child, no; but I told 'em old Lane had caught the whooping-cough, and that will keep the whole town in gossip at least a week."
Katharine began to laugh—she was but a young thing, and the idea amused her excessively.