"What is it, father ?" she asked.
There was no answer, but a return to an imitation of the regular breathing of a sleeper.
"Hiram," she insisted, "what is it ?" "Nothing, Ellen, nothing," he answered; "I must have ate something that don't sit quite right." "You didn't take no supper at all," said she.
This reminded him how useless it was to try to deceive her.

"I ain't been feeling well of late," he confessed, "but it'll soon be over." He did not see the double meaning of his words until he had uttered them; he stirred uneasily in his dread that she would suspect.

"I went to the doctor." "What did he say ?--though I don't know why I should ask what such a fool as Milbury said about anything." "I got some medicine," replied he, evading telling her what doctor.
Instantly she sat up in bed.

"I haven't seen you take no drugs!" she exclaimed.

Drugs were her especial abhorrence.