LAURA. Sit down, won't you?

DOCTOR. Thank you.

LAURA. Yes, there is a great deal of illness in the neighborhood
just now, but I hope it will agree with you here. For us country
people living in such isolation it is of great value to find a
doctor who is interested in his patients, and I hear so many nice
things of you, Doctor, that I hope the pleasantest relations will
exist between us.

DOCTOR. You are indeed kind, and I hope for your sake my visits to
you will not often be caused by necessity. Your family is, I
believe, as a rule in good health--

LAURA. Fortunately we have bear spared acute illnesses, but still
things are not altogether as they should be.

DOCTOR. Indeed?

LAURA. Heaven knows, things are not as might be wished.

DOCTOR. Really, you alarm me.

LAURA. There are some circumstances in a family which through honor
and conscience one is forced to conceal from the whole world--

DOCTOR. Excepting the doctor.