"Quiet!" echoed Mrs. Copley. "How could you keep him quiet?"

"I suppose I imagined myself on board ship," said the young man, smiling, "and gave orders, as I am accustomed to do there. Habit is a great thing."

"And Mr. Copley minded your orders?"

"That is understood."

"Well!" ejaculated Mrs. Copley. "He never would do the least thing I or Dolly wanted him to do; not the least thing. He has been giving the orders all along; and as fidgetty as ever he could be. Fidgetty and nervous. Wasn't he fidgetty?"

"No; very docile and peaceable."

"You must be a wonderful man," said Mrs. Copley.

"Habit," said Mr. Shubrick. "As I said, it is a great thing."

"He has been having his own way all along," said Mrs. Copley; "and ordering us about, and doing just the things he ought not to do. He was always that way."

"Not the proper way for a sick room," said Mr. Shubrick. "You had better install me as head nurse."