Clergy -- Fiction; Conduct of life -- Fiction; England -- Fiction; Families -- Fiction; Spouses of clergy -- Fiction
Mrs. Greville's illness not only gave Rachel more work to do in the
parish, but took up a certain amount of her time in visiting her and
seeing that she was well looked after. And her mother-in-law, being
such an active woman was not an easy patient to do with. Her incapacity
to help her son was trying in the extreme to her, and she was one of
those people who look on illness as a humiliation. The atmosphere of
the sick room was not a happy one.
Moreover, Rachel found that visiting her meant various little extra
duties to perform, as there was someone or other always on Mrs.
Greville's mind. Would Rachel give Mrs. Jones a look as her heart
was constantly giving her trouble; and Mrs. Jacob was probably in
great need of a grocery ticket. She would like to know also if Mrs.
Grayston's baby had arrived, and how she was. And by-the-bye, she had
promised to lend a book the day before she was taken ill to that poor
crippled man in Rainer Street. Then two or three women ought to be
looked up who had not lately been to the mothers' meeting. And though
Miss Sweet had not told her, she felt sure that her young man was going
to spend the week end with them soon, and that in all probability
she would not be likely to take her class at the school that Sunday.
Someone ought to be found to take her place.
What all these commissions meant to Rachel can be imagined; but she
knew that if her mother-in-law had the faintest idea of how tired she
felt and how terribly full her days were she not have asked her to do
this extra work.
Curiously enough, Mrs. Greville, after that time of anxiety about
Rachel leaving the baby alone, had scarcely mentioned Pat; indeed
Rachel wondered at times if she had forgotten him. Anyhow, she had
quite forgotten how difficult it was to leave him so often with Polly,
who indeed had other work to do.
What tried Rachel more than anything was that when her mother-in-law
was getting better, she suddenly relapsed into her old habit of
thinking her incapable. She would say "No, you had better not go
and see Mrs. Guy. She is a woman that needs careful handling. You'd
probably offend her, ask Mrs. Stone." Or when Rachel had taken pains to
make some appetising little dish for her, denying herself perhaps an
egg for breakfast so as to be able to spare one for her mother-in-law,
Mrs. Greville would worry at her extravagance, reminding her that she
was the wife of a poor parson, and that if she were not more careful
she would land him in debt. Rachel put all these uncomfortable moods
down to illness, but it did not make her life easier.
One day after a specially trying time, she hurried home to find to her
surprise the Bishop sitting in the drawing-room.
The sight of his dear familiar face was almost too much for her. She
clung to his hand without speaking.
In a moment he saw that Rachel was overdone.
"Come and sit down my dear child," he said. His tone of voice was so
full of kindness and sympathy that Rachel nearly gave way to tears.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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