“She will be all right now,” he said, referring to his patient. “But she must continue to have absolute rest and she must not be worried or permitted to worry. If you and she could go somewhere, Captain Dott, to some quiet place in the country, and stay there for six months, I think it would help her more than anything. Can you do it?”
“I can do it, Doctor,” replied Daniel eagerly. “I'd like to do it. I'll go anywhere, if it will help her.”
“Good! Then I will advise it and you and Miss Dott must back my advice. Will you?”
“I will, and so'll Gertie, I'm sure. You speak to her, Doctor. We'll do the backin' up.”
So the doctor made the suggestion. Serena received it quietly, but, when her husband came to do his share of the “backing up,” she shook her head.
“I'd like to, Daniel,” she said. “I'd like to, but I can't.”
“You can't? Course you can! Now let's think where we'll go. Niagara Falls, hey? You always wanted to go to the Falls.”
“No, Daniel.”
“No? Well, then, how about Washin'ton? We'll see the President, and the monument, and the Smithsonian Museum, and Congress—we'll see ALL the curiosities and relics. We'll go to—”
“Don't, Daniel. It makes me tired out just to hear about them. I couldn't stand all that.”