powers of reflection were too much weakened to endure or comprehend
argument; when, in fact, nothing was left to fall back upon but the
simple obedience which would have been required in a child, and when
that obedience was wanting, what could result but increased discomfort
to himself and all concerned? Yes, even as we should lay up a store of
prayers against that time when we shall be unable to pray for ourselves,
so surely should we lay up a store of habits against the time when we
may be unable to think or reason for ourselves! How often have
lives been saved by the mere instinct of unquestioning instantaneous
obedience!

Had Frederick possessed that instinct, how much present suffering and
future wretchedness might have been spared him! His ideas were as yet
too disconnected for him to understand or bear in mind that he was
subjecting his mother to excessive fatigue, but the habit of submission
would have led him to bear her absence patiently, instead of perpetually
interrupting even the short repose which she would now and then be
persuaded to seek on the sofa. He would have spared her his perpetual,
harassing complaints, not so much of the pain he suffered, as of every
thing and every person who approached him, his Uncle Geoffrey being the
only person against whom he never murmured. Nor would he have rebelled
against measures to which he was obliged to submit in the end, after
he had distressed every one and exhausted himself by his fruitless
opposition.

It was marvellous that the only two persons whose attendance he would
endure could bear up under the fatigue. Even Uncle Geoffrey, one of
those spare wiry men, who, without much appearance of strength are
nevertheless capable of such continued exertion, was beginning to
look worn and almost aged, and yet Mrs. Frederick Langford was still
indefatigable, unconscious of weariness, quietly active, absorbed in
the thought of her son, and yet not so absorbed as not to be full of
consideration for all around. All looked forward with apprehension to
the time when the consequences of such continued exertion must be
felt, but in the meantime it was not in the power of any one except her
brother Geoffrey to be of any assistance to her, and her relations could
only wait and watch with such patience as they could command, for the
period when their services might be effectual.

Mrs. Langford was the most visibly impatient. The hasty bustling of her
very quietest steps ga