“I say — do you love him?”

“Why — I reckon I do. Don’t try to move that way, Doctah. You may not be done right, and you’ll bleed again. Oh, we don’t know — we are so ignorant — Azalie and me — ”

He smiled. “Nothing matters now,” he said.

They heard voices, and she looked out from the doorway. “It’s Hoke. They’ve sent old Doctor Bartlett. I’m so glad. Aunt Sally, I reckon they’ll need hot water. Get some ready, will you?”

“Cassandra, Cassandra!” called David, almost irritably.

She came back to him.

“Where are they?”