Morning after morning he rode to the Homestead to hear that Rachel had
had a very bad night, and was very low, then was admitted to find Mrs.
Curtis's fluttering, flurried attentions exasperating every wearied
fibre with the very effort to force down fretfulness and impatience,
till, when she was left to him, a long space of the lull impressed on
her by his presence was needful before he could attempt any of the quiet
talk, or brief readings of poetry, by which he tried further to soothe
and rest her spirits. He would leave her so calm and full of repose as
to make him augur well for the next day; but the moment his back
was turned, something would always happen that set all the pulses in
agitation again, and consigned her to a fresh night of feverish phantoms
of the past. He even grew distracted enough to scold Grace fraternally
as the only person he could scold.
"You seem to nurse her on the principle of old Morris, the biggest
officer among us, who kindly insisted on sitting up with me, and began
by taking his seat upon my hand as it was lying spread out upon a
pillow."
"Indeed, Alick," said Grace, with tears in her eyes, "I hardly know what
to do. When you are not in the house the mother is almost as much in
a nervous fever as Rachel, and it is hardly in her power to keep from
fretting her. It is all well when you are here."
"Then, Grace, there is only one thing to be done. The sooner I take
Rachel away the better for both her and the mother."
"Oh, Alick, you will drive them both wild if you hurry it on."
"Look here. I believe I can get leave from Saturday till Tuesday. If I
can get a hearing in those two days, I shall try; and depend upon it,
Grace, this place is the worst that Rachel can be in."
"Can you come out here for three whole days? Oh, what a comfort!"
And 'what a comfort' was re-echoed by Mrs. Curtis, who had erected dear
Alexander to a pedestal of infallibility, and was always treated by him
with a considerate kindness that made her pity Fanny for the number of
years that must pass before Stephana could give her the supreme blessing
of a son-in-law. Fanny, on her side, had sufficient present blessing in
collecting her brood around her, after the long famine she had suffered,
and regretted only that this month had rendered Stephana's babyhood more
perceptibly a matter of the past; and that, in the distance, school days
were advancing towards Conrade, though it was at least a comfort that
his diphtheria had secured him at home for another half year, and the
Colonel had so much to think about that he had not begun his promised
researches into schools.