"Help me to get well, and you shall have it on your own terms."
"You will need some one besides myself. Do you authorize me to hire an attendant?"
"Yes, I shall be glad to have you do so. I begin to hope for recovery, through your assistance. I had given myself up for lost."
"Then I will go out and see what I can do. Do you authorize me to pay liberally for the service of a nurse?"
"Pay anything—fifty dollars a week, if necessary; I can afford it."
"I will go out at once. I will see if I can buy some oranges."
Andy left the hotel and walked toward the steamboat wharf. It was deserted, except by two persons.
A young man of thirty, bronzed by exposure to the weather, who looked like a farmer, stood beside a plain, cheap trunk, on which sat a woman somewhat younger, who had a weary and anxious look.
The young man—her husband, doubtless—seemed troubled.
"Good-afternoon," said Andy, pleasantly. "Are you in any trouble? Is there anything I can do for you?"