England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Guardian and ward -- Fiction; Orphans -- Fiction
I did not try: why should I? food sufficient to me were my tears and my
grief renewed in all its bitterness by this incident. Why had Cornelius
sent me this token of a communion from which the trust and the faith had
for ever vanished? Why should I drink from his glass, whilst he thought
me a liar? I ought not, and I resolved that I would not, until he had
acknowledged my truth. I pushed away the tray from me; in doing so I saw
that the covering Kate had thrown over me was an old cloak of her
brother's. I recognized it at once: it was the very same he wore when he
came to see me at Mr. Thornton's; the same in the folds of which he had
wrapped and carried me, a weak and sickly child. I cast it away in a
transport of despair and grief; he might care for me and cherish me
again, but never more could he be to me what he once had been.
After awhile I became more calm, or rather I sank into the apathy which
is not calmness. Lying on my bed I looked through the window which faced
it, at the grey and cloudy sky. The preceding day had been clear and
sunshiny; this was dark and overcast, one of those September days that
bear something so dull, chill, and wintry in their mien. I watched my
room grow dim, and felt it becoming more cold and comfortless as evening
drew on; but it seemed not so dreary, and felt not so cold, as my
desolate heart.
A well-known step on the stairs partly roused me. I listened; there was
a. low tap at my door; I gave no answer; it was renewed, and still I was
silent. Cornelius, for it was he, waited awhile and finally entered. Like
his sister he came up to my bed and bent over me, but the room had grown
dark; he drew back the curtain; I shaded my eyes with my hand; he moved
it away.
"You are not asleep," he said, "look at me, Daisy."
I obeyed; he stood gazing at me with my baud in his; there was sadness on
his face, and pity still deeper than his sadness. I dare say I looked a
pitiable object enough. He glanced at the food untouched, at the wine
untasted.
"You have taken nothing," he said, "not even a drop of the wine I sent
you; why so?"
"I could not."
"Try again."
He wanted to raise the glass to my lips; but I pushed it away so
abruptly, that half its contents were spilled. He made no remark; but
feeling the dead-like dullness of my hand, he attempted to cover me with
his cloak; I half rose to put it away; Cornelius took no notice of this
either.
"Come down and have some tea," he said quietly; "this room is cold, but
below there is a fire."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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