Magdalen heard him advertising himself to the nurse before he closed
the door. "If you are ever asked about it," he said, in a confidential
whisper, "the name is Wragge, and the Pill is to be had in neat boxes,
price thirteen pence half-penny, government stamp included. Take a few
copies of the portrait of a female patient, whom you might have blown
away with a feather before she took the Pill, and whom you are simply
requested to contemplate now. Many thanks. _Good_-morning."
The door closed and Magdalen was alone again. She felt no sense of
solitude; Captain Wragge had left her with something new to think of.
Hour after hour her mind dwelt wonderingly on Mr. Kirke, until the
evening came, and she heard his voice again through the half-opened
door.
"I am very grateful," she said to him, before the nurse could answer his
inquiries--"very, very grateful for all your goodness to me."
"Try to get well," he replied, kindly. "You will more than reward me, if
you try to get well."
The next morning Mr. Merrick found her impatient to leave her bed, and
be moved to the sofa in the front room. The doctor said he supposed
she wanted a change. "Yes," she replied; "I want to see Mr.
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