CHAPTER I
THE SMASH-UP
There are a number of things that are pleasanter than being sick in a
New York boarding-house when one\'s nearest dearest is a married sister up
in far-away Michigan.
Some one must have been very kind, for there were doctors, and a
blue-and-white striped nurse, and bottles and things. There was even a
vase of perky carnations-- scarlet ones. I discovered that they had a trick
of nodding their heads, saucily. The discovery did not appear to surprise
me.
"Howdy-do!" said I aloud to the fattest and reddest carnation that
overtopped all the rest. "How in the world did you get in here?"
The striped nurse (I hadn\'t noticed her before) rose from some corner
and came swiftly over to my bedside, taking my wrist between her fingers.
"I\'m very well, thank you," she said, smiling, "and I came in at the
door, of course."