"But me no buts. As your medical adviser I refuse to permit of any interference. In such a matter you of all persons ought to set a good example."
He was silent. Not only was he helpless and too weak for argument, but there was in her manner an air of peremptory authority before which he positively quailed. Yet, the next day, he returned to the attack.
"I don't want there to be any misunderstanding between us, so please realise that I'm quite aware that the accident was entirely my fault, that you were in no way to blame, and that therefore you are not in any sense responsible for my present position."
"I know that as well as you do. You ought to have had a bell; no bicyclist ought to be without a bell, especially at night. I did not hear you coming, but you heard me; yet you ran right into me although you heard."
"I lost my head."
"You lost something.
"Therefore I wish to emphasise the fact that I have not the slightest right to encroach upon your hospitality, or your time, or your services."
"Does that mean that you would rather dispense with the latter? Or are you merely again trying to display a refractory spirit?"
"I'm not doing anything of the kind. I simply don't wish to take advantage of your--your generosity."
"Generosity? My good sir, you are mistaken. Yours is an interesting case. I flatter myself that not everybody could have saved that leg of yours. You know how seldom one gets an interesting case at Market Hinton; I mean to make the best of this one now I've got it. You'll regard this as a hospital. And you'll stay in it, as patiently as your nature permits, until, in due course, you receive your discharge."