d me with her swivel-eye. ''Here I come!'' she said, making to fall upon me. But the fall never came, though I screwed up my face and drew in my breath, to take it. Nurse Bacon had stopped her.
''No dropping,'' she said. ''Dropping won''t be fair. Go down slowly, or not at all.''
So Nurse Flew moved back, then came slowly forward, and lowered herself down by her hands and knees until her weight was all upon me. The breath I had drawn in was all squeezed out. I think, if I had had a floor underneath me instead of a bed, she would have killed me. My eyes, my nose and mouth, began to run. ''Please—!'' I said.
''She cries Please!'' said the dark-haired nurse. ''That means five points to Nurse Flew!''
They eased off tugging me, then. Nurse Flew kissed my cheek and got off me, and I saw her stand with her hands above her head, like the winner of a boxing match. I sucked in my breath, I spluttered and coughed. Then they drew me tight again, for Nurse Spiller''s turn. She was worse than Nurse Flew—not heavier, but more awkward, for she lay with the points of her limbs, her knees and her elbows and her hips, pressing hard into mine; and her corset was a stiff one, with edges that seemed to cut me like a saw. Her hair had an oil upon it and smelt sour, and her breath was loud, like thunder, in my ear. ''Come on, you little bitch,'' she said to me, ''sing out!''—but I had some pride, even then. I closed my jaws and wouldn''t, though she pressed and pressed; at last the nurses cried, Oh, shame! No points for Nurse Spiller at all!''—and she gave a final grind to her knees, and swore, and got off. I lifted my head