"By refurnishing the parlor for the summer. The dust is ruining our nice things, so the change will be an economy. I'll do it so cheaply that almost any farmer in the county can afford to copy it, to the great delight of his wife, as well as himself. Let--me--see--" and Grace dropped her head over a bit of paper and a pencil, and Caleb looked at her admiringly, and winked profoundly at Philip, and then hurried into the back room so that his impending substitute for an ecstatic dance should not disturb the planner of the coming parlor decorations. For some reason--perhaps excitement over the bath-house, or surprise at the uniforming of his Grand Army command, or the heat, or the debilitating effect of old wounds--Philip pretended to believe it was the effect of Grace's ice-cream upon a system not inured to such compounds--Caleb suddenly became disabled by a severe malarial attack with several complications. He did not take to his bed, but his movements were mechanical, his manner apathetic, and his tongue almost silent. He did not complain; and when questioned, he insisted that he suffered no pain. Philip and Grace endeavored to tempt his appetite, for he ate scarcely anything, and they tried to rally him by various mental means, but without effect. He noted their solicitude, and its sincerity impressed him so deeply that he said one day:-- "The worst thing about this attack is that I can't get words to tell you how good you both are bein' to me. But I'm the same as a man that's been hit with a club." Then Philip and Grace insisted that Doctor Taggess should do something for Caleb, and the Doctor said nothing would give him more pleasure; for anything that would restore Caleb to health would probably be serviceable in other cases of the same kind, of which there were several on his hands. After listening to much well-meant but worthless suggestion, the Doctor said:-- "There's a new treatment of which I've heard encouraging reports, but it is quite costly. It is called the sea treatment. It is said, on good authority, that a month at sea, anywhere in the temperate zone, will cure any chronic case of malaria, and that the greater the attack of sea-sickness, the more thorough will be the cure." "Caleb shall try it, no matter what the cost," said Philip. The Doctor smiled, shook his head doubtfully, and said:-- "What if he won't? He is so bound up in you and your business, and his own many interests and duties, that he will make excuses innumerable." "Quite likely, but I ought to be ingenious enough to devise some way of making it appear a matter of duty." "I hope you can, and that you'll begin at once, if only for my sake, professionally, so that I may study the results." Then, for a day, Philip became almost as silent as Caleb, and Grace assisted him. The next morning, he said:--