Chilcote Park, Or, the Sisters, by the Author of 'Likes and Dislikes'. (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 87 CHAPTER VII. IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. MAY had come. The mild, genial May that poets sing of, not the chilly, sunless month to which we, in the nineteenth century, are so accustomed. This was in poor Bertha's favour, and she seemed to be approaching something like health, and was able to enjoy the fresh air, as she lay on her sofa out on the terrace. Not that Dr. Martin gave those who asked for his opinion, the slightest hope of her ultimate recovery. He felt that in another year, if not sooner, all must be over, so far as human eye could foresee; but at one time he had not even thought she could ever be moved from Chilcote. Now, he thought change of air might prolong life, and he urged that she should be moved soon, by easy stages, so as to be in a mild, dry climate, before the ' fall of the leaf.' The question was whither she should go; and this was for Francis to decide. She had now, no will but his. People soon get used to an invalid in the house, when the change is not apparent, from day to day. The family had returned to its usual way of life, and whether Francis, Lady Keith, and Agnes were again buoyed up with false hopes or not, they were not in the habit of saying much of their feelings on any subject to one another; and now that Bertha could leave her room daily, they appeared as cheerful as ever. These few weeks of routine soon came to an end, as Bertha had yielded for the first time in her young life she had ceased to insist on breaking off her engagement, and she had consented to be married to Francis, by special licence, in her aunt's drawing-room, before they went abroad. No one had the slightest objection to this plan. They were not people who cared about church matters, or who felt the influence of a hallowed spot, where secular thoughts s...