"You are looking better—decidedly better. The disease has spent its force, and retreated from the field."
"It is to you that the credit belongs, Dr. Townley."
"Only in part. The greater share belongs to your faithful nurse, Mrs. Burke."
"I shall not soon forget my obligations to her," said the sick man, significantly.
"Now, Colonel Preston," said Mrs. Burke, "you are making too much of what little I have done."
"That is impossible, Mrs. Burke. It is to your good nursing and the doctor's skill that I owe my life, and I hardly know to which the most."
"To the doctor, sir. I only followed out his directions."
"At the expense of your own health. You show the effects of your long-continued care."
"It won't take long to pick up," said Mrs. Burke, cheerfully.
"Is the danger of contagion over, doctor?" asked the patient.