"You don"t think my husband will have a relapse?" asked Mrs. Preston, with fresh alarm.
"Not if he has the same care for a short time longer."
"He shall have it. She must stay. Of course her duties are lighter now, and six dollars a week for the remainder of the time will be enough--don"t you think so?"
"No, I don"t," said the doctor, bluntly; "and, moreover, I am quite sure your husband will not consent to reducing the wages of one whose faithful care has saved his life."
"Oh, well, you know best," said Mrs. Preston, slowly. "I am quite willing that she should be well paid."
Mrs. Preston went upstairs, and entered her husband"s chamber.
"Oh, my dear husband!" she exclaimed, theatrically, hurrying across the room, with affected emotion. "I am so glad to find you so much better!"
"I am glad to see you back, Lucinda," said Colonel Preston; but he spoke coldly, and without the slightest affectation of sentimental joy. "I have pa.s.sed through a good deal since you left me."
"And so have I!" exclaimed his wife. "Oh, how my heart has been rent with anxiety, as I thought of you lying sick, while duty kept me from your side."
"Is G.o.dfrey well?" asked her husband, taking no notice of her last speech.
"Yes, poor boy! He sends his love, and is so anxious to see you."
"Let him come next Friday afternoon," said the sick man, who doubted this statement, yet wanted to believe it true.
"He shall. I will write to him at once."
So Mrs. Preston resumed her place in the house; but from that time there was a something she could not understand in her husband"s manner. He was graver than formerly, and sometimes she saw him watching her intently, and, after a little, turn away, with a sigh.
He had found her out in all her intense selfishness and want of feeling, and he could never again regard her as formerly, even though she tried hard at times, by a show of affection, to cover up her heartless neglect.
CHAPTER XXIII MRS. BURKE HAS GOOD FORTUNE
Mrs. Burke remained a week longer to nurse Colonel Preston. At the end of this time Mr. Preston thought he was well enough to dispense with a nurse, and accordingly she prepared to take leave.
"I shall always remember your kind service, Mrs. Burke," said the colonel, warmly.
"It was only my duty, sir," said the widow, modestly.
"Not all would have done their duty so faithfully."
"I am glad to see you well again," said the widow.
"Not more than I am to get well, I a.s.sure you," said he. "Whenever you are in any trouble, come to me."
With these words, he placed in her hands an envelope, which, as she understood, contained the compensation for her services. She thanked him, and took her departure.
Mrs. Preston was curious to know how much her husband paid the nurse, and asked the question.
"A hundred dollars," he replied.
"A hundred dollars!" she repeated, in a tone which implied disapproval. "I thought she agreed to come for ten dollars a week."
"So she did."
"She has not been here ten weeks; only about six."
"That is true, but she has richly earned all I gave her."
"Ten dollars a week I consider very handsome remuneration to one in her position in life," said Mrs. Preston, pointedly.
"Lucinda, but for her attention I probably should not have lived through this sickness. Do you think a hundred dollars so much to pay for your husband"s life?"
"You exaggerate the value of her services," said his wife.
"Dr. Townley says the same thing that I do."
"You are both infatuated with that woman," said Mrs. Preston, impatiently.
"We only do her justice."
"Oh, well, have it your own way. But I should have only paid her what I agreed to. It is a great windfall for her."
"She deserves it."
Mrs. Preston said no more at this time, for she found her husband too "infatuated," as she termed it, to agree with her. She did, however, open the subject to G.o.dfrey when he came home, and he adopted her view of the case.
"She and her low son are trying to get all they can out of father," he said. "It"s just like them."
"I wish I could make your father see it," said Mrs. Preston, "but he seems prepossessed in her favor."
"If he can give a hundred dollars to her, he can give me a little extra money; I"m going to ask him."
So he did the same evening.
"Will you give me ten dollars, father?" he asked.
"What for?"
"Oh, for various things. I need it."
"I give you an allowance of three dollars a week."
"I have a good many expenses."
"That will meet all your reasonable expenses. I was far from having as much money as that when I was of your age."