The number of incapables that thought themselves capable, and the number of capables who flatly declined the moment they heard they were to go down into the country, might have worn out the patience of a more patient man.

And the capables willing to overlook the dreariness of the country in consideration of high wages rose up immediately and bid him good-day when informed the patient was a lunatic.
Dr.Oleander was driven to the verge of desperation, when, lo! just as he was about to give it up in despair, there entered an applicant who suited as if made to order.
The applicant--this "last, and brightest, and best"-- was a woman of uncertain age, tall and stout, strong and strapping, and adorned with a head of violent red hair and a pair of green spectacles.

Minus these two disagreeable items, she was a highly respectable woman, with a grave, shrewd face, and a portly person wrapped in a somber plaid shawl.
She stated her case.

She had seen the advertisement, and had come to apply for the situation.

She was accustomed to the office of sick-nurse, and considered herself fully qualified for it.
Her statement was plain and straightforward--much more so than that of her predecessors.