"Too much company for her, Marse Tom. Betwixt you, and Shekels,
the Colonel's wife, and the Cid--"

"The Cid? Oh, I remember--the raven."

"--and Mrs. Captain Marsh and Famine and Pestilence the baby
COYOTES, and Sour-Mash and her pups, and Sardanapalus and her
kittens--hang these names she gives the creatures, they warp my
jaw--and Potter: you--all sitting around in the house, and Soldier
Boy at the window the entire time, it's a wonder to me she comes
along as well as she does. She--"

"You want her all to yourself, you stingy old thing!"

"Marse Tom, you know better. It's too much company. And then the
idea of her receiving reports all the time from her officers, and
acting upon them, and giving orders, the same as if she was well!
It ain't good for her, and the surgeon don't like it, and tried to
persuade her not to and couldn't; and when he ORDERED her, she was
that outraged and indignant, and was very severe on him, and
accused him of insubordination, and said it didn't become him to
give orders to an officer of her rank. Well, he saw he had excited
her more and done more harm than all the rest put together, so he
was vexed at himself and wished he had kept still. Doctors DON'T
know much, and that's a fact. She's too much interested in things-
-she ought to rest more. She's all the time sending messages to
BB, and to soldiers and Injuns and whatnot, and to the animals."