I fancy
he thinks me a mere infant still, for he won't heed a word of advice
about taking care of himself and WILL do the most foolish things
imaginable for a man in his state, though I can't make out what is
the matter with him. I tried both French and Latin with his doctor,
equally in vain.'
There was a great consultation over this letter. Our parents would
fain have gone at once to Baden, but my father was far from well; in
fact, it was the beginning of the break-up of his constitution. He
had been ageing ever since his disappointment in Griffith, and
though he had so enjoyed his jaunt with my mother that he had seemed
revived for the time, he had been visibly failing ever since the
winter, and my mother durst not leave him. Indeed she was only too
well aware that her presence was apt to inspire Selina with the
spirit of contradiction, and that Clarence would have a better
chance alone. He was to go up to London by the mail train, see Mr.
Castleford, and cross to Ostend.
A valise from the lumber-room was wanted, and at bedtime he went in
quest of it. He came back white and shaken; and I said -
'You have not seen HER?'
'Yes, I have.'
'It is not her time of year.'
'No; I was not even thinking of her. There was none of the wailing,
but when I looked up from my rummaging, there was her face as if in
a window or mirror on the wall.
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