Deane had said. Ella, whose favorite theory
was, "a big house, a lot of things, and _chairs_ enough to
put them in," was wholly unprepared for sickness, which found her
in a sad condition. To be sure there were quantities of French
embroidery, thread lace and fine linen, while the bed, on which
she lay, cost a hundred dollars, and the rosewood crib was perfect
of its kind, but there was a great lack of neatness and order; and
as day after day Mr. Hastings stood with folded arms, looking
first from one window and then from the other, his thoughts were
far from being agreeable, save when he bent over the cradle of his
first-born, and then there broke over his face a look of
unutterable tenderness, which was succeeded by a shade of deep
anxiety as his eye rested upon his frail young wife, whose face
seemed whiter even than the pillow on which it lay.
After a few weeks, during which time Ella had gained a little
strength and was able to see her friends, Eugenia came regularly
to Rose Hill, sitting all day by the bedside of the invalid, to
whom she sometimes brought a glass of water, or some such trivial
thing.
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