“Nay,” and she looked at me so wistfully that I at once repented of my harsh manner—“nay, indeed, Simi. Thou art a man strong in thy mind, and shall be strong in thy body if thou wouldst but let me give thee——”
“No more, woman,” I said roughly. “Leave me. I want none of thy medicines, I say again.”
“Thy wish is my law,” she said gently, “but, ere I leave thee, I pray thee that in a little way thou wilt let me show thee that I do mean well to thee.”
I laughed, and asked her what medicine or charm she desired to experiment with upon me.
“No medicine, and no charm,” she answered. “But I know that because of many things thy mind and thy body alike suffer pain, and that sleep would be good for thee. And I can give thee sleep—strong, dreamless sleep that, when thou awakenest, will make thee feel strong in thy body and softer in thy now angry heart to Niâbon.”
“If you can make me sleep now, I'll give you twenty dollars,” I said in my English fashion.
She took no notice of my rude and clumsy remark, though she had good reason to be offended.
“Simi,” she said, “shall I give thee sleep?”
“Ay,” I replied, “give me sleep till the master of this house returns.”
She rose and bent over me, and then I noticed for the first time that, instead of being about thirty-five or forty years of age, as I had judged her to be by her hard, clear features and somewhat “bony” appearance externally, she could not be more than five-and-twenty, or even younger.