"You are quite alone in the world?"
"For all present purposes—yes, Doctor Burns."
"I can't just believe," he said gently, "that it is not very important to somebody to know if you are ill."
"It is just my affair," she answered with equal courtesy of manner but no less finally. "Believe me, please—and tell me what to do. Shall I not be better to-morrow—or in a day or two?"
He was silent for a moment. Then, "It is not a time for you to be without friends," said Red Pepper Burns. "I will prove to you that you have them at hand. After that you will find there are others. I am going to take you to a pleasant place I know of, where you will have nothing to do but to lie still and rest and get well. The best of nurses will look after you. You will obey orders for a little—my orders, if you want to trust me—"
"Where is this place?" The question was a little breathless.
"Where do you guess?"
"In—a hospital?"
"In one of the best in the world."
"I am—pretty ill then?"