Now this was such an outrageous exaggeration that Linton was impelled to exclaim:
"RATS! You never SAW a thousand sick folks."
"I didn't say so. I said I'd given thousands of lemons—"
"Oh!" Tom filled his pipe and lit it, whereupon his partner breathed a sibilant warning:
"Put out that smudge! D'you aim to strangle the girl?"
With a guilty start the offender quenched the fire with his thumb.
"The idea of lightin' sheep-dip in a sick-room!" Mr. Quirk went on.
With his cap he fanned violently at the fumes.
"You don't have to blow her out of bed," Tom growled. Clumsily he drew the blankets closer beneath the sick girl's chin, but in so doing he again excited his companion's opposition.
"Here!" Jerry protested. "She's burnin' up with fever. You blanket 'em when they've got chills." Gently he removed the covers from Rouletta's throat.
Linton showed his contempt for this ridiculous assertion by silently pulling the bedding higher and snugly tucking it in. Jerry promptly elbowed him aside and pulled it lower. Tom made an angry gesture, and for a third time adjusted the covers to suit himself, whereupon Jerry immediately changed them to accord with his ideas.