Mrs. Ragg drew her breath so hard through her nose that she made a noise like some wild animal in the agonies of suffocation.
"You really know me, Tobias?"
"Know you, dear? Oh, why should I not know you, Minna? God bless you!"
"May He bless you, Tobias."
They wept together; Minna forgot that there was anybody in the world but herself and Tobias, and parting the long straggling masses of his hair from before his face, she kissed him.
"For my sake, Tobias, now you will take care of yourself, and recover quickly."
"Dear—dear Minna."
He seemed never tired of holding her hands and kissing them. Suddenly the surgeon stepped forward with a small vial in his hand.
"Now, Tobias," he said, "you are much better, but you must take this."
The look of surprise and consternation with which Tobias regarded him was beyond description. Then he glanced at the bedstead and the rich hangings, and he said—