“It’s got nothin’ to do with the proprieties,” said Mrs. Brackett, sternly, “nor what he was to her, nor her to him; it’s a plain case of humanity and—”
“What is the nature of the sickness?” asked the senator.
“It’s fever—”
“Is it contagious?” asked the senator.
“No, it ain’t!” almost shrieked the old lady. “And what if it was?”
“Of course if it were contagious she couldn’t go,” said the senator.
“It ain’t contagious, and, what’s more, he once laid down his life for her on the log, that time.”
“If you assure me the fever is not contagious—”
“You’ll let her come—”
“It seems nonsense,” said the senator. “They are only children, and I don’t want her to get silly ideas.”