There are a number of things that are pleasanter than being sick in a New York boarding-house when one's nearest dearest is a married sister up in faraway Michigan. Some one must have been very kind, for there were doctors, and a blue-and-white striped nurse, and bottles and things. There was even a vase of perky carnations -- scarlet ones. I discovered that they had a trick of nodding their heads, saucily. The discovery did not appear to surprise me. "Howdy-do " said I aloud to the fattest and reddest carnation that overtopped all the rest. "How in the world did you get in here?"