On another occasion, Mary caught this fragment:
“She's so everlastin' sore that she just hollers and yells every time I go near her. Would you give her any more morphine?”
“Morphine's a thing you can't monkey with you know, Doctor. You want to be mighty careful about that.”
“Yes. I know. How long will that morphine last?”
“That depends on how you use it. It won't last long if you use too much and neither will she.”
“I mean how long will it last in the system?”
“O! Why, three or four hours.”
“Well, I think she don't need no more medicine.”
Mary smiled at the double negative and when she laughingly spoke of it that night her husband assured her that that doctor's singleness of purpose more than offset his doubleness of negative. That he was a fine fellow and a good physician just the same.