In the evening he attended to his patients, talked cheerily to the ladies, and laughed and joked over the events of the day.
None among the ladies showed greater calmness and courage than Mrs.
Rintoul, and not a word was ever heard from the time the siege began of her ailments or inconveniences.

She was Mrs.Hunter's best assistant with the sick children.

Even after her husband was wounded, and her attention night and day was given to him, she still kept on patiently and firmly.
"I don't know how to admire Mrs.Rintoul enough," Mrs.Hunter said to Isobel Hannay one day; "formerly I had no patience with her, she was always querulous and grumbling; now she has turned out a really noble woman.

One never knows people, my dear, till one sees them in trouble." "Everyone is nice," Isobel said.

"I have hardly heard a word of complaint about anything since we came here, and everyone seems to help others and do little kindnesses." The enemy's fire had been very heavy all that day, and the breach in the wall had been widened, and the garrison felt certain that the enemy would attack on the following morning.
"You and Farquharson, Doctor, must stop on the roof," the Major said.
"In the first place, it is possible they may try to attack by ladders at some other point, and we shall want two good shots up there to keep them back; and in the second, if they do force the breach, we shall want you to cover our retreat into the house.