"I've come to take care of you, Barney," said she.

His eyes, half dazed in his burning face, looked up at her with scarcely any surprise.
[Illustration: "'I've come to take care of you'"] Charlotte laid back some of the bedclothes whose weight was a torture, and straightened the others.

She worked about the house noiselessly and swiftly.

She was skilful in the care of the sick; she had had considerable experience.

Soon everything was clean and in order; there was a pleasant smell of steeping herbs through the house.