`` That 's the very crankiest kind of crank , '' I said . `` A person who wants to be let alone flies in the face of Providence , who decreed that folks for their own good were not to be let alone . But cheer up , Mr. Bennett . The quarantine will be up on Tuesday and then you 'll certainly be let alone for the rest of your natural life , as far as William Adolphus and I are concerned . You may then return to your wallowing in the mire and be as dirty and comfortable as of yore . '' Alexander Abraham growled again . The prospect did n't seem to cheer him up as much as I should have expected . Then he did an amazing thing . He poured some cream into a saucer and set it down before William Adolphus . William Adolphus lapped it up , keeping one eye on Alexander Abraham lest the latter should change his mind . Not to be outdone , I handed Mr. Riley a bone . Neither Alexander Abraham nor I had worried much about the smallpox . We did n't believe he would take it , for he had n't even seen the girl who was sick . But the very next morning I heard him calling me from the upstairs landing . `` Miss MacPherson , '' he said in a voice so uncommonly mild that it gave me an uncanny feeling , `` what are the symptoms of smallpox ? '' `` Chills and flushes , pain in the limbs and back , nausea and vomiting , '' I answered promptly , for I had been reading them up in a patent medicine almanac . `` I 've got them all , '' said Alexander Abraham hollowly . I did n't feel as much scared as I should have expected . After enduring a woman hater and a brindled dog and the early disorder of that house -- and coming off best with all three -- smallpox seemed rather insignificant . I went to the window and called to Thomas Wright to send for the doctor .
The doctor came down XXXXX Alexander Abraham 's room looking grave .
as before for from in into of on that with