Elizabeth fell back a little that Gusta might greet him first, and the strong, lusty, healthy girl bent over her father and laid one hand on his.
"Well, pa, how're you feeling to-day?"
"Hullo, Gustie," said the old man, "you gom' again, huh? Vell, der oldt man's pretty bad, I tel' you."
"Why, the nurse said you were better."
"Why, yes," said the nurse, stepping forward with a professional smile, "he's lots better this morning; he just won't admit it, that's all. But we know him here, we do!"
She said this playfully, with a lateral addition to her smile, and she bent over and passed her hand under the bed-clothes and touched his bandages here and there. Elizabeth and Gusta stood looking on.
"Isn't the pain any better?" asked the nurse, still smilingly, coaxingly.
"Naw," growled the old German, stubbornly refusing to smile. "I toldt you it was no besser, don't I?"
The nurse drew out her hand. The smile left her face and she stood looking down on him with a helpless expression that spread to the faces of Elizabeth and Gusta. Koerner turned his head uneasily on the pillow and groaned.
"What is it, pa?" asked Gusta.