Mrs. Roberts: "That's true, and thank you, Amy. I forgot all about that. But now, Edward, dear, you will remember, won't you? If I could only stay with you——"
Roberts, who has been drowsily drooping in his chair during the exchange of these ideas between the ladies: "Oh, I'm all right, Agnes. Or—ow, ugh, ow!—I should be if I had a cup of tea."
Mrs. Roberts: "There! I knew it. If I had been worth anything at all as a wife I should have had you a cup of tea long ago. Oh, how heartless! And I've let both the girls go, and the fire's all out in the range, anyway. But I'll go and start it with my own hands—"
Mrs. Campbell: "In those gloves! You're crazy, Agnes! Edward, I'll tell you what Willis does, when he's out of sorts a little: he takes a taste of whiskey-and-water. He says nothing freshens him up like it."
Roberts: "That's a good idea."
Mrs. Roberts, bustling into the dining-room and reappearing with a tumbler and a decanter: "The very thing, Amy! And thank you so much. Trying to make Edward remember seems to put everything out of my head! I might have thought of whiskey, though! If it's only loss of sleep, it will wake him up, and if it's grippe, it's the most nourishing thing in the world."
Roberts: "I'm not going to have the grippe, Agnes."
Mrs. Roberts: "Edward! Don't boast! You may be stricken down in an instant. I heard of one person who was taken so suddenly she hadn't time to get her things off, and tumbled right on the bed. You must put some water in it, of course; and hot water is very soothing. You can use some out of the pipes; it's perfectly good."
Mrs. Campbell: "Agnes, are you never coming?"
Roberts: "Yes, go along, Agnes, do! I shall get on quite well, now. You needn't wait."