"And everything smells of antiseptics. I rather like that. I spent six weeks in a hospital once. I had a nervous breakdown, and the quiet was heavenly, and all the nurses were angels."
She would not smile. "Of course if you will stay," she said, "you must take things as they come. Mrs. Bower will send your meals up to you. She won't have time to set a company table."
"I'm not company; let me eat with the rest of you."
She hesitated. "You wouldn't like it. I don't like it. There's no service, you see—we all just help ourselves."
"I can help myself."
She shook her head. "It will be easier for Mrs. Bower to bring it up."
He climbed three steps and stopped. "Are you going to do all the nursing?"
"I shall do some of it. Peggy is really ill. There are complications. And Mrs. Bower and Beulah have so much to do. We shall have to close the school. Dr. Brooks wants to save as many as possible from having it."
"So Brooks is handling Peggy's case."
"Of course. Peter Bower knew his grandfather."