The next day another doctor came, and the nurse went in and out of the room sterilizing things and looking very mysterious and important--but always with that intolerably reassuring smile.

Mary V gritted her teeth every time she saw that nurse.
They were going to operate, the nurse said, when Mary V simply could not stand it another minute.

She went and sat all curled up in the hammock, not letting it swing, but just keeping very, very still, and listening.
There were voices in there mumbling sentences she could not catch.

After awhile a sickly odor came drifting through the window, and more muttering between the two doctors.

Sudden came wandering up, tiptoed to his chair on the porch, and sat down rather heavily and twirled a cigar in his fingers without lighting it.