Her rapid, impassioned declamation was ended by a copious flood of

grief that provoked a frightful fit of coughing. When this was

subdued she was weaker than a year-old infant, and lay between

stupor and dreaming for so long a time, that Mrs. Sutton became

alarmed.

There must be no repetition of this scene. She most ward off similar

mishaps by whatever measures she could force or cajole her

conscience into adopting. Rosa's state was more precarious than her

account had led her friend to believe, or than the nurse's

experienced eye had seen at their meeting. The main hope of her

recovery was in the warmer climate and assiduous attendance. Above

all, she should not be allowed to exhaust herself by talking, or

hysterical paroxysms. She had no more self-control than a child, and

she must be treated as such. Mrs. Sutton's jesuitical resolve was to

humor her by every imaginable device, even to feigned friendship for

Frederic Chilton.

Fortified by this resolution, she heard, without any show of pride

or trepidation, the clatter of horses' hoofs in the yard; the sound

of voices below stairs, as Mr. Chilton ushered the physician into

the parlor, and the light, careful tread with which he mounted to

his wife's apartment. His momentary pause at the entrance, and

surprised look at beholding the other tenant of the chamber, were

the best passport to her indulgence he could have desired. It was

clear to her instantly that poor Rosa's passion for manoeuvring had

survived the wreck of health and prostration of spirits. She had

never chosen the straight path if she could find a crooked or a

by-road, and her project for obtaining Mrs. Sutton's services and

company had been put into execution, without consultation with her

husband. However reprehensible this might be in the abstract, it was

not in the kind old soul to betray her, as she advanced, placidly

and civilly, to reassure the startled man.

"How are you, Mr. Chilton? You hardly expected to meet me here, I

suppose? But I am a near neighbor of Mrs. Tazewell now, and hearing

that Rosa was sick, I came over to see if I could do anything for

her, knowing how infirm her mother is."

"You are very kind!" He grasped her hand more tightly than he

intended, or was conscious of. "We were ignorant ourselves of Mrs.

Tazewell's true condition. Mrs. Chilton's sisters have forwarded

more encouraging reports to her of her mother's illness than they

would have been warranted in doing by anything except the fear that

a faithful account would operate injuriously upon the daughter's

health. I should have chosen some other home for my wife, had I

known the actual state of affairs here. Change of scene and climate

was imperatively demanded."




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