Fardorougha, The Miser: The Works of William Carleton, Volume OneCarleton, William
General
Fardorougha, The Miser: The Works of William Carleton, Volume One
Carleton, William
Ireland -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
“I'm going up to her,” replied his wife; “and may God guard her, and
spare her safe and sound to us; for what--what kind of a house would it
be if she----but I can't think of it. Oh, wurrah, wurrah, this night!”
Until the return of their son, with the doctor, both O'Brien and his
wife hung in a state of alarm bordering on agony over the bed of
their beloved daughter. Indeed, the rapidity and vehemence with which
incoherence, accompanied by severe illness, set in, were sufficient to
excite the greatest alarm, and to justify their darkest apprehensions.
Her skin was hot almost to burning; her temples throbbed terribly, and
such were her fits of starting and raving, that they felt as if every
minute were an hour, until the physician actually made his appearance.
Long before tins gentleman reached the house, the son had made him
fully acquainted with what he looked upon as the immediate cause of her
illness; not that the doctor himself had been altogether ignorant of
it, for, indeed, there were few persons of any class or condition in the
neighborhood to whom that circumstance was unknown.
On examining the diagnostics that presented themselves, he pronounced
her complaint to be brain fever of the most formidable class, to wit,
that which arises from extraordinary pressure upon the mind, and unusual
excitement of the feelings. It was a relief to her family, however, to
know that beyond the temporary mental aberrations, inseparable from the
nature of her complaint, there was no evidence whatsoever of insanity.
They felt grateful to God for this, and were consequently enabled to
watch her sick-bed with more composure, and to look forward to her
ultimate recovery with a hope less morbid and gloomy. In this state
we are now compelled to leave them and her, and to beg the reader will
accompany us to another house of sorrow, where the mourning was still
more deep, and the spirits that were wounded driven into all the wild
and dreary darkness of affliction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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