He is dead. I am going to France, when I can."
I tried to speak gently to her. I saw that her present position must be a
trial. I advised her to take more rest, or she would break down
altogether, for she was weak and nervous; I hinted that she might have to
give up entirely, if she continued to tax herself heedlessly; and,
finally, that I would speak to Mrs. Falchion about her. I was scarcely
prepared for her action then. Tears came to her eyes, and she said to me,
her hand involuntarily clasping my arm: "Oh no, no! I ask you not to
speak to madame. I will sleep--I will rest. Indeed, I will. This service
is so much to me. She is most generous. It is because I am so altogether
hers, night and day, that she pays me well. And the money is so much. It
is my honour--my dead brother's honour. You are kind at heart; you will
make me strong with medicine, and I will ask God to bless you. I could
not suffer such poverty again. And then, it is my honour!"
I felt that she would not have given way thus had not her nerves been
shaken, had she not lived so much alone, and irregularly, so far as her
own rest and comfort were concerned, and at such perpetual cost to her
energy.
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