"You are the most troublesome patient that ever I had," said he.
"I am?" I exclaimed.
"Yes. Quite innocently. You cannot help it, Daisy; and you need not be troubled about it. It is all in the way of my profession. It is as if a delicate vessel of Egyptian glass were put to do the work of an iron smelting furnace; and I have to think of all the possible bands and hardening appliances that can be brought into use for the occasion."
"I do not understand," I said.
"No; I suppose not. That is the worst of it."
"But why am I an Egyptian glass?" I asked. "I am not very old."
The doctor gave me one of those quick, bright glances and smiles that were very pleasant to get from him and not very common. There came a sort of glow and sparkle in his blue eye then, and a wonderful winsome and gracious trick of the lips.
"It is a very doubtful sort of a compliment," said Mrs. Sandford.
"I did not mean it for a compliment at all," said the doctor.