“Oh, yes, sir, please, sir. I am so tired of being here.”
“I suppose so,” said the young surgeon. “Naturally;” and he turned to the nurse with a slight shrug of his shoulders.
“It is so sad and painful, sir,” she said gravely. “Poor thing! I am sure she has tried to be very patient.”
“Well, we will hear what Sir Denton says.”
Neil Elthorne went across the ward to another bed, and Maria uttered a little laugh.
“What amuses you?”
“Oh, nothing, nurse; I was only thinking. Of course I want to get home again. Anybody would.”
“Well, be patient. You are getting better, and you must think of health and strength, and the bright country life, where you will have fresh flowers and better fruit, and be among your friends.”
The nurse smiled, and then placed a little bottle of lavender water in her patient’s hand.
“To sprinkle about you when you feel faint,” she said.