e prevailed on her to go into her room; we laid
her upon the Bed, and she continued for some Hours in the most dreadful
Convulsions. My Mother and I continued in the room with her, and when
any intervals of tolerable Composure in Eloisa would allow us, we joined
in heartfelt lamentations on the dreadful Waste in our provisions which
this Event must occasion, and in concerting some plan for getting rid of
them. We agreed that the best thing we could do was to begin eating them
immediately, and accordingly we ordered up the cold Ham and Fowls, and
instantly began our Devouring Plan on them with great Alacrity. We would
have persuaded Eloisa to have taken a Wing of a Chicken, but she would
not be persuaded. She was however much quieter than she had been;
the convulsions she had before suffered having given way to an almost
perfect Insensibility. We endeavoured to rouse her by every means in our
power, but to no purpose. I talked to her of Henry. "Dear Eloisa (said
I) there's no occasion for your crying so much about such a trifle. (for
I was willing to make light of it in order to comfort her) I beg you
would not mind it--You see it does not vex me in the least; though
perhaps I may suffer most from it after all; for I shall not only be
obliged to eat up all the Victuals I have dressed already, but must if
Henry should recover (which however is not very likely) dress as much
for you again; or should he die (as I suppose he will) I shall still
have to prepare a Dinner for you whenever you marry any one else. So
you see that tho' perhaps for the present it may afflict you to think
of Henry's sufferings, Yet I dare say he'll die soon, and then his pain
will be over and you will be easy, whereas my Trouble will last much
longer for work as hard as I may, I am certain that the pantry cannot be
cleared in less than a fortnight." Thus I did all in my power to console
her, but without any effect, and at last as I saw that she did not seem
to listen to me, I said no more, but leaving her with my Mother I took
down the remains of The Ham and Chicken, and sent William to ask how
Henry did. He was not expected to live many Hours; he died the same day.
We took all possible care to break the melancholy Event to Eloisa in the
tenderest manner; yet in spite of every precaution, her sufferings on
hearing it were too violent for her reason, and she continued for many
hours in a high Delirium. She is still extremely ill, and her Physicians
are