I shall put you in the corner!'
Even nurse was scared one night when Clarence had a frightful
screaming fit, declaring that he saw 'her--her--all white,' and even
while being slapped reiterated, 'HER, Lucy!'
Lucy was a kind elder girl in the Square gardens, a protector of
little timid ones. She was known to be at that time very ill with
measles, and in fact died that very night. Both my brothers
sickened the next day, and Emily and I soon followed their example,
but no one had it badly except Clarence, who had high fever, and
very much delirium each night, talking to people whom he thought he
saw, so as to make nurse regret her severity on the vision of Lucy.
CHAPTER II--SCHOOLROOM DAYS
'In the loom of life-cloth pleasure,
Ere our childish days be told,
With the warp and woof enwoven,
Glitters like a thread of gold.'
JEAN INGELOW.
Looking back, I think my mother was the leading spirit in our
household, though she never for a moment suspected it. Indeed, the
chess queen must be the most active on the home board, and one of
the objects of her life was to give her husband a restful evening
when he came home to the six o'clock dinner. She also had to make
both ends meet on an income which would seem starvation at the
present day; but she was strong, spirited, and managing, and equal
to all her tasks till the long attendance upon me, and the
consequent illness, forced her to spare herself--a little--a very
little.
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