"Oh," I thought to myself, "if I could only now, having so
forgotten care, drop off to sleep for ever, would not this be a better
piece of fortune than any I can ever hope for?"
Of course it would, but we would not take it though it were offered us.
No matter what evil may befall us, we will mostly abide by it and see it
out.
I could see that Ernest felt much as I had felt myself. He said little,
but noted everything. Once only did he frighten me. He called me to his
bedside just as it was getting dusk and said in a grave, quiet manner
that he should like to speak to me.
"I have been thinking," he said, "that I may perhaps never recover from
this illness, and in case I do not I should like you to know that there
is only one thing which weighs upon me. I refer," he continued after a
slight pause, "to my conduct towards my father and mother. I have been
much too good to them. I treated them much too considerately," on which
he broke into a smile which assured me that there was nothing seriously
amiss with him.
On the walls of his bedroom were a series of French Revolution prints
representing events in the life of Lycurgus. There was "Grandeur d'ame
de Lycurgue," and "Lycurgue consulte l'oracle," and then there was
"Calciope a la Cour.
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