Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

14 TUK .\or.un-x i>M:(HiTt:n.
generous diet for a dog, Jacques had given a piece of twenty
lo his master, and rcinic.Mcd him t > provide it.
I assure you mademoiselle, that 1 left the whole happv frame of
party in a
mind, your Behsarius declaring that when
Mdlle Dcnisc took anything in hand it always succeeded,
and that the dog-:eech was a very clever fellow, and your humrvant
worthy of entering into partnership with him.
Moreover, taut Toupet \vouid certainly get well, seeing he
would have the bone of a good cutlet to gnaw this evening.
n ourselves, my belief is that Toupet was dying of inanition,
and that when you walk that way to-morrow, mademoi-
you will Iind your protege perfectly restored to health."
"
IIo\v very good of you M de Vedelles, to have taken all
this trouble. You must be experienced in the art of doing
kindnesses, or you would not be such a proficient in it."
" Is it an art mademoiselle ?'
" li not an art, a talent," Denise replied. "There are gener-
ally three or four ways of doing a kind action, and very different
degrees of happiness produced according to the one we
"
I had never thought of that," Madame de Vedelles said.
"
I
never see but one way of doing things, and it is. I dare say, not
the best."
'On the contrary, dear madame," Denise exclaimed. "You
have a natural spirit of kindness which guides you better, I am
sure, than any amount of thinking would do."
" You are right, my dear; I never think to any good purpose."
' You are mistaken there, my dear little mother," Jacques
:
You are not conscious of it, but your mind
affectionately said.
is always occupied with plans for making others happy."
lie would have thought so still more if he could have read her
ing at the door of a public-house, took fright at something, ran
away and dashing against their cakchf, overturned it. Jacques
d unhurt, and so did the driver, but Madame de Vedelles'
collar bone was broken and her arm fractured.
It would be difficult to describe the consternation her husband
and her sons evinced in different ways, and according to their
rent characters; but as intense as possible in each case.
Countess de Vedelles was one of those persons who,
without cleverness or much capacity of any sort, and appar-
ently singularly helpless and inefficient, by dint of tenderness,
ness, and unselfishness, had become essential to her fam-
ily. As is so often the case, though always delicate in health,
ver hardly had been seriously ill, and when it crossed their
minds that there was reason for alarm, it struck them for the
first time that life without her would be a dreary sort of thing,
and that they could not bear to look such a misfortune in the
The old Count seemed simply bewildered, and walked twenty
times over from her room, where she bad been carried, to the
drawing room, unable to realize that she was not going to spend
the evening opposite to him, as she had done for the last twentytighl
years. George seated himself in a corner of his mother's
b' j d chamber, and remained there with his eyes fixed upon her
till, her moans becoming more frequent, he could stand it no
r, and snatching up his hat. rushed out of the house, threw
still he hoped all would be riflht. Ko-.v.
great
deal of fever came on, i;n :
to send for the best doctor at Toulon, i'or UK.I ;
wrote to Mdlle. de la Piuede. to tell her of the accident, and to
beg her to despatch, as soon us possible, whomever she considered
to be the ablest medical m;.n in that lown.
M. Dubois arrived as soou as couid be expected, said the state
of the Countess gave cause for anxiety, but that with cure ai:d
skilful nursing she would recover. lie recommended that they
should at ouce procure an < I nurse, and offered to remain
himself at the chateau till she arrived.
Jacques again sent a messenger to Madame de Brissac's house
with a letter, in which he implored Denise to secure, as quickly
as possible, a skilful, devoted sick nurse, repealing what M.
Dubois had said that his mother's life would most likely depend
on the care with which she was watched for the next few
days and nights, and the quiet and presence of mind of those
about her.
In a very short time, the answer to his letter was brought back.
It was as follows: " M. le C'omte I know of no one in this
town whom I could fully recommend to wait on your dear
mother at this critical moment. We have not any Sceurs d>t Ion
Secours here none but paid nurses, in whom I have little confidence.
It seems presumptuous to offer myself, but M. Dubois
will tell you that I am not an unskilful nurse; and I may ven-
ture to say that what care and attention can do, will not be want-
ing on my part. I shall start in an hour, and if my earnest
prayers are heard, God will bless my efforts to be of use to one
for whom I feel so much esteem and affection."
"God bless her," Jacques ejaculated; but turning to the doc-
tor, who was in the room, he said in an anxious manner,
"Mademoiselle de la Pinede it is so kind of her offers to come
and nurse my poor mother. I do not doubt her good will, but
thoughts at that moment, for as she looked at her handsome son
and at the beautiful Denise talking together of the blind man
and his dog, and saw his look of admiration and her apparent
pleasure in listening to his playful, amusing nonsense, visions
were passing before her, all tending to his happiness in this
world and in the next.
Providence favored her maternal wishes, or, at 'east, seemed
to favor them, in an unexpected manner; and being the most
unselfish of human beings, she rejoiced at an event which had
this result, though it involved she can have no experience."
suffering to herself.
As Jacques and she were returning that day to La Pinede, a
horse harnessed to a light cart, which its master had left stand-
'Has not she experience?" M. Dubois rejoined. "I am
heartily glad of what you tell me. It is the very thing I could
have wished. I have seen that young lady at work : a clearer
head, a lighter hand, a more noiseless tread in a sick room, a
more cheerful disposition I have not met with in the whole
course of my practice. I can tell you that you arc lucky to
have found such a nurse for Madame le Comtesse, and I shall go
away easier about my patient now that Mademoiselle Denise will
be here."
Little had the old Count and his sons thought to have seen
Mdlle. de la Pinede so soon again
at the chteau, and it was
strange to witness the effect her presence produced, when,
scarcely an hour after her letter had reached Jacques, she
arrived.
It seemed as if a mountain's weight had been lifted off the
hearts of all in that house, as if they breathed more freely, and
instinctively derived hope from the presence or that gentle,
strong, bright-looking creature, who really seemed, so George
said lo himself, to be an angel sent to their assistance.
When Jacques announced to bis suffering mother the arrival
of Denise, and her object in coming to La Pinede, a faint color
rose in her checks, and she said, " Thank God," with an energy
"
which almost surprised her son. The sight of her face did me
good at once," she told the Count the next time he came into her
room after Mdlle. de la Pinede had been with her. "I had been
I am ashamed to say fretting because my illness would pre-
vent those two from meeting, and now it has come about that it
has actually brought her under our roof. Oh, something must
I am sure.""
come of it,
Something was hereafter to come of it, but not just what poor
Madame de Vedelles expected.
"
Minu," she said to her husband before he left her that after-
noon,
f down, will) hi:; face on the frass, and remained in that
re til! the surgeon, whom J the only active member
of the family, had instantly sent for. arrived from Ciotat, and
s%t the injured limbs. He said the fractures were serious, but
" mind that you insist upon it that she should have all her
meals with you and our sons. She must not shut herself up in
my sick room, and she should take a walk every day "
It was a life that
peculiar began that day for the inhabitants of
La Pinede, a life tUat was to last about three weeks, and then be