Margaret Capel: A Novel, vol. 2 of 3Wallace, Ellen
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Margaret Capel: A Novel, vol. 2 of 3
Wallace, Ellen
English fiction -- 19th century
Life of my love--throne where my glories sit,
I ride in triumph on a silver cloud
When I but see thee.
SUN'S DARLING.
A few days after their return home, the weather, always so unsettled in
our climate, became suddenly cold, and Aveline's illness immediately
assumed a more serious form. Mr. Lindsay looked grave; and to Mrs.
Fitzpatrick's repeated entreaties that he would be perfectly open with
her respecting her daughter's state; he at length reluctantly owned that
he entertained a very slight hope of her ever being restored to health.
Mrs. Fitzpatrick bore the news with more firmness than he had expected.
Although her fears had often suggested as much to her own mind, she only
half believed it. If Aveline seemed languid or out of spirits; if her
cheek was more flushed, or her appetite failed, then Mrs. Fitzpatrick's
heart died within her; and she echoed the doctor's unfavourable
sentence. But if she rallied for a time, if she turned to her usual
occupations for an hour, or if, owing to the return of the fine weather,
she enjoyed a temporary respite from her harrassing attacks of cough,
then Mrs. Fitzpatrick's spirits and confidence rose again; no one
understood she was sure, her daughter's case. Aveline was certain to
recover.
It was a mild sunny morning. There had been rain, and it had dispelled
the sharp wind so prevalent in our early summer. The sea lay glittering,
and breaking into small crested waves. Aveline wrapped in shawls with a
heavy cloak laid over her feet, sat reading upon the beach. Her mother
had walked back to the house to give some forgotten order to the
servants, and Aveline, as soon as Mrs. Fitzpatrick was out of sight,
dropped her book, and clasping her hands on her knee, sat long gazing
upon the moving line of water. It had become an exertion to her to read
of late. The lines swam before her eyes, if she directed her attention
to them for any length of time. Her appetite had declined; her spirits
failed her; and her large eyes now filled with tears, as she remained
listless, and quiet; gazing vacantly upon the slowly advancing waves.
Two or three merry peasant children were playing on the beach--urging
each other closer and closer to the rippling water, and running back
with shouts and laughter as the foam broke over their feet. When they
came nearer to Aveline, their voices sank; they whispered to each other
that it was the sick lady, and stole quietly one by one along the sand.
But Aveline caught sight of them as they were passing, and beckoned
them to her side.
"Come to me, Jane," said she "I wish to speak to you, I want to hear how
your mother does?"
"Mother is better, Ma'am, thank you," said the girl. "Mother ate all the
chicken broth," said a younger child pressing forward.
"I am glad to hear it," said Aveline, "does she sleep better, than she
used?"
"Much better, Ma'am," said the girl, "the doctor says she may leave off
taking the stuff at night."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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