The worry of nursing her husband had fixed
a plaintive frown upon her forehead; she was pale and looked unhappy and
more than usually inefficient, and her eyes wandered more vaguely than
ever from point to point.
"Poor thing!" Mrs. Thornbury exclaimed. She told them that for some
days Hughling Elliot had been ill, and the only doctor available was the
brother of the proprietor, or so the proprietor said, whose right to the
title of doctor was not above suspicion.
"I know how wretched it is to be ill in a hotel," Mrs. Thornbury
remarked, once more leading the way with Rachel to the garden. "I spent
six weeks on my honeymoon in having typhoid at Venice," she continued.
"But even so, I look back upon them as some of the happiest weeks in my
life. Ah, yes," she said, taking Rachel's arm, "you think yourself happy
now, but it's nothing to the happiness that comes afterwards. And I
assure you I could find it in my heart to envy you young people! You've
a much better time than we had, I may tell you. When I look back upon
it, I can hardly believe how things have changed. When we were engaged
I wasn't allowed to go for walks with William alone--some one had always
to be in the room with us--I really believe I had to show my parents all
his letters!--though they were very fond of him too. Indeed, I may say
they looked upon him as their own son.
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