Aunts -- Fiction; England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Fathers and daughters -- Fiction; Love stories; Stepmothers -- Fiction
I suppose I was really feverish, or whatever that word signifies to a
child, for I do not remember anything about what happened during the
next few days; then by slow degrees memory returned to me. I was very
weak when this happened. Memory came back in a sort of dim way at first,
and seemed to be half real and half a dream. Once I was quite certain
that I saw a tall and broadly-made man in the room, and that when he
stood up his head nearly touched the ceiling, and that when he sat down
by my cot and took my hand I said "Daddy, daddy," and after that I had a
comfortable sleep. There is no doubt whatever that I had a sort of dream
or memory of this tall man, not once, but twice or thrice; then I did
not see him any more.
Again, I had another memory. Anastasia had really come by a train at
last, and was in my room. She was bending over me and smoothing my
bed-clothes, and telling me over and over again to be a good girl, and I
kept on saying, "Oh, Anastasia, don't let the pins stick in," but even
that memory faded. Then there came more distinct thoughts that seemed to
be not memories but realities. Aunt Penelope sat by my bedside. There
was nothing dreamlike about her. She was very upright and full of
purpose, and she was always knitting either a long grey stocking or a
short sock. She never seemed to waste a moment of her time, and while I
looked at her in a dazed sort of way, she kept on saying, "Don't fidget
so, Heather," or perhaps she said, "Heather, it's time for your gruel,"
or, "Heather, my dear, your beef tea is ready for you."
At last there came a day when I remembered everything, and there were no
shadows of any sort, and I sat up in bed, a very weak little child. Aunt
Penelope was kinder than usual that day. She gave me a little bit of
chicken to eat, and I was so hungry that I enjoyed it very much, and
then she said:
"Now you will do nicely, Heather, and I hope in future you will be
careful of your health and not give me such a fright again."
"Aunt Penelope," I said, "I want to ask you a question, or rather, two
questions."
"Ask away, my dear," she replied.
"Did father come here by any chance? While I was in that cloud sort of
world I seemed to feel that he came to see me, and that he looked taller
and broader than before."
"I should think he did," said Aunt Penelope. "Why, he had to stoop to
get in at the door, and when he was in the room his head almost touched
the ceiling."
"Then he was here?" I said.
"Yes. He came three times to see you. That was when you were really
bad."
"When is he coming again?" I asked.
"Finish your chicken, and don't ask silly questions," snapped Aunt
Penelope.
I did finish my chicken, and Aunt Penelope took the plate away.
"Was Anastasia here also?" I asked. "And did I say to her, 'Please,
don't let the pins stick in'?"
"The woman who brought you back from India came to see you once or
twice," said Aunt Penelope.
"Then she did catch the next train?" I said.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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