"Mercy!" ejaculated the awed Miss Hendry, who had no idea what was the proper size of any internal organ.
"Keep us!" said Mrs. Thomson, who was in a similar state of ignorance. "A tea-kettle, Mrs. Macbean!"
"A tea-kettle," said Mrs. Macbean firmly.
"Oh, I say!" said Jessie. "That's awful!"
Mrs. Macbean nodded her head several times, well pleased at the sensation she had made.
"You can imagine what a turn it gave me. Maggie was with me in the room, and she said afterwards she really thought I was going to faint. I just kinda looked at the man—I'm meaning Sir Angus—but I could not say a word. I was speechless. But Maggie—Maggie's real bright—she spoke up and she says, 'Will she recover?' she says, just like that. And he was nice, I must say he was awful nice, very reassuring. 'Time,' he says, 'time and treatment and patience'—I think that was the three things, and my! the patience is the worst thing."
"But she's improving, Mrs. Macbean?" asked Mrs. Forsyth.
"Slowly, Mrs. Forsyth, slowly. But a thing like that takes a long time."
"Our Hugh says that the less a body knows about their inside the better," said healthy Mrs. Forsyth.
"That's true, I'm sure," agreed Mrs. Thomson. "Mrs. Forsyth, is your cup out? Try a bit of this cake."