Cora coughed to cover up her laugh.
She coughed, and tears stung her eyes.
She sprayed the perfume on her wrist and coughed.
Thus if a little diphtheritic sputum were coughed into a person's eye, or some blood containing anthrax bacilli were to touch a raw spot upon the hand, the removal of microbes in either case by washing with simple water might be regarded as a means of passive defence, whilst washing them away with an antiseptic lotion might be regarded as active defence, because the antiseptic would tend not only to remove but to destroy the microbes.
The symptoms of Natasha's illness were that she ate little, slept little, coughed, and was always low-spirited.
