`` Is she any better ? '' asked Una , when Faith returned . `` No , she is n't . She 's groaning with the misery still . Maybe we ought to tell Dr. Blythe . But she says not -- she never had a doctor in her life and she is n't going to begin now . She says doctors just live by poisoning people . Do you suppose they do ? '' `` No , of course not , '' said Una indignantly . `` I 'm sure Dr. Blythe would n't poison anybody . '' `` Well , we 'll have to rub Aunt Martha 's back again after breakfast . We 'd better not make the flannels as hot as we did yesterday . '' Faith giggled over the remembrance . They had nearly scalded the skin off poor Aunt Martha 's back . Una sighed . Mary Vance would have known just what the precise temperature of flannels for a misery back should be . Mary knew everything . They knew nothing . And how could they learn , save by bitter experience for which , in this instance , unfortunate Aunt Martha had paid ? The preceding Monday Mr. Meredith had left for Nova Scotia to spend his short vacation , taking Jerry with him .
On Wednesday Aunt Martha was suddenly seized with a recurring and mysterious ailment which she always called `` the misery , '' and which was tolerably certain XXXXX attack her at the most inconvenient times .
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