The Mystery of M. FelixFarjeon, B. L. (Benjamin Leopold)
General
The Mystery of M. Felix
Farjeon, B. L. (Benjamin Leopold)
Detective and mystery stories; English fiction -- 19th century
Her apartments, in a good position in the city, consisted of five
rooms and a kitchen. Two of these rooms Madame Lambert gave to Emilia,
one a sitting-room, the other a bedroom for her and the baby. During
Madame Lambert's absence the apartments had been taken care of by an
old servant, who acted as cook and general domestic, to whom Madame
Lambert had sent certain written instructions. When Madame Lambert
said to Emilia, "Welcome, home," she conducted Emilia to the rooms set
apart for her, and the young mother's eyes overflowed as they fell
upon the flowers which welcomed her and at the other evidences of a
loving friendship which the thoughtfulness of Madame Lambert had
provided.
"How good you are to me!" she murmured.
"We are going to be very happy here," said Madame Lambert.
"I should be undeserving, indeed," said Emilia, kissing her kind
friend and putting the baby into her arms, "if I were not happy with
you."
Madame Lambert was well known in Geneva, and had many friends there,
to all of whom she introduced Emilia. It was through these
introductions that Emilia was enabled to obtain employment as a
governess, which occupied her four or five hours a day, and her
sweetness and gentleness soon made her loved by all who knew her. In
this way passed five happy years, and then a calamity occurred. Madame
Lambert fell ill, and the doctors said that she could not recover.
When this verdict was imparted to Madame Lambert, she received it with
resignation.
"I have only one regret, my dear," she said to Emilia, "that I must
say farewell to you and our child. But my spirit will be with you
always."
"Dear friend, dear friend!" murmured Emilia.
"It's a great comfort to me to know," said the dying woman, "that you
are well established here, and can get a living. You are so much loved
that I have no fears of your future. I am truly sorry that I cannot
leave you and our Constance a fortune. There is a little money, very
little, but it will be useful; and in my will I have left the
furniture of our home to you. Then I have been clever enough to pay
the rent in advance for the next three years, so that you will be able
to put by a little more. God bless you, my dear; you have brightened
the last years of an old woman's life."
In a voice choked with emotion Emilia thanked and blessed the good
lady, who smiled and fondled her hand. She saw little Constance
frequently, but she would not allow the child to be saddened by
keeping her too long in the room of a dying woman.
"Childhood should be bright," she said. "I want our child to remember
me in my cheerful moods."
"She will remember and pray for you all her life," sobbed Emilia, "as
I shall, dearest and best of friends."
The end came a little after midnight.
"Do you think," she whispered, with a pause between each word, "that
you could let me kiss our dear child without awaking her?"
"I will bring her," said Emilia.
"Kiss me first, dear," said the dying lady.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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