The governor said no more, but turned away and slowly left the apartment.
“He is incorrigible, and almost unmanageable,” he whispered to the doctor. “I never met with such an obstinate man in all my experience.”
The doctor nodded significantly, but made no reply to this last speech.
In a few minutes after this, Mat Murdock was left in the charge of Knoulton.
The latter did not seem inclined to force the conversation. He knew the irritable nature of the patient, and therefore deemed it advisable to leave him to his own reflections, which were, to say the truth, bitter enough.
The smuggler tossed about in his bed, groaned, and ground his teeth, but his nurse took no notice of all this; he was well used to scenes of this nature, and was, moreover, well versed in the treatment of such persons.
Presently Murdock glanced towards him, and said in a more subdued tone—
“Have they placed you here to attend upon me?”
“Yes,” answered Knoulton; “I am your nurse. Does that satisfy you?”
“I’d rather have you than anyone else. Give me your hand.”