If he supposed this was the end, he was mistaken. Annette was not so easily whipped or discouraged. She called again that afternoon, and again the next day. Each morning for a week she came, and, between times, other adherents of the Black-Dott party called. They all asked concerning the invalid, but their interest plainly centered upon her part in the campaign. Would she be well enough to take part in the election, that was the question. They sent flowers and notes. The flowers reached the lady for whom they were intended; the notes did not. And, after the first week, the calls became fewer. Annette and her followers had, apparently, given up hope of aid and advice from their candidate for vice-president. At any rate they ceased to trouble the captain and his daughter.
“It's all the better, Daddy, dear,” said Gertrude. “Mother will have a chance to rest and improve now.”
And Serena did improve, slowly at first, then with gratifying rapidity. She began to sit up for a portion of each day and to sleep through the greater part of each night. At the end of the tenth day the doctor announced that the nurse's services were no longer necessary.
“She will be all right now,” he said, referring to his patient. “But she must continue to have absolute rest and she must not be worried or permitted to worry. If you and she could go somewhere, Captain Dott, to some quiet place in the country, and stay there for six months, I think it would help her more than anything. Can you do it?”
“_I_ can do it, Doctor,” replied Daniel eagerly. “I'd like to do it. I'll go anywhere, if it will help her.”
“Good! Then I will advise it and you and Miss Dott must back my advice. Will you?”
“I will, and so'll Gertie, I'm sure. You speak to her, Doctor. We'll do the backin' up.”
So the doctor made the suggestion. Serena received it quietly, but, when her husband came to do his share of the “backing up,” she shook her head.
“I'd like to, Daniel,” she said. “I'd like to, but I can't.”
“You can't? Course you can! Now let's think where we'll go. Niagara Falls, hey? You always wanted to go to the Falls.”
“No? Well, then, how about Washin'ton? We'll see the President, and the monument, and the Smithsonian Museum, and Congress--we'll see ALL the curiosities and relics. We'll go to--”