rvices for nothing?"
"Ah, no, no, you mistake," said Nina, putting up the palm of her right
hand for a second. "You mistake. I was offered terms as well--generous,
oh, yes, very generous; but it was not that that impressed me--it was
their kindness--their admitting me into their domesticity--I have found
the mother as kind to me as to her own daughters. No airs of patronage;
they did not say, 'You are a foreigner; we cannot trust you;' they said,
'You are alone; come into our family, and be friends with us.' But not
at once; no, no; for at first I did not know any one--"
"I should think it would be easy for you to make friends anywhere," said
Francie, in her gentle fashion.
They did not linger long over that meal; it was hardly a time for
feasting; indeed, Maurice had gone down before the others, to hear the
nurse's report. She had nothing to say; the sick-room had been so still,
she had not even ventured in, hoping the patient was asleep.
That afternoon there were many callers; and Mangan, who went down to
such of them as wanted to have special intelligence, was pleased in a
way. "Well," he would say to himself, as he went up and down the stairs,
"the public have a little gratitude, after all, and even mere
acquaintances do think of you occasionally. It is something. But if you
should go under, if you should drop out from amid the universal
forward-hurrying throng, what then? If you have done something that can
be mentioned, in art or letters or science, the newspapers may toss you
a paragraph; or if you have been a notorious criminal or charlatan or
windbag, they may even devote a leader to you; but the multitude--what
time have they to think? A careless eye glances at the couple of
obituary lines that have been paid for by relatives; then onwards again.
Perhaps, here and there, one solitary heart is struck deep, and
remembers; but the ordinary crowd of one's acquaintances--what time have
they? Good-bye, friend!--but we are in such a hurry!" Nevertheless, he
was glad to tell Lionel of these callers, and of their flowers and cards
and messages and what not.
On this Tuesday afternoon Miss Burgoyne also called; but, hearing that
there were some relations come, she would not go up-stairs. Maurice went
down to see her.
"What brought on this fever?" she asked, after the usual inquiries.
"A variety of causes, I should imagine," he answered. "The immediate one
was a severe chill."
"They say he has lost all hi
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