Part 27 (1/2)
”Get well, I hope. That is the first thing. Aunt Candy says she will pay for her board and Clarissa's, and mamma and you can live on that.
Letty and I must go get our living--somehow.”
And here Anne broke down. Matilda wanted to ask about Maria's fate in the general falling to pieces of the family; but her throat felt so full, she was afraid she could not. So she did not try; she turned and went down-stairs to her mother.
Mrs. Englefield was dozing, flushed and uneasy; she hardly noticed who was with her; but asked for water, and then for Cologne water. Matilda brought the one and the other, and sat by the bedside wiping her mother's brow and cheeks with the Cologne. n.o.body came to interrupt or relieve her for some time. The light of the afternoon began to fade, and the sunbeams came aslant from the western sky; and still the child sat there pa.s.sing the handkerchief gently over her mother's face. And while she sat so, Matilda was thinking what possible ways there might be by which she could make money.
”Tilly, is that you?” said Mrs. Englefield, faintly, as the sunbeams were just quitting the room.
”Yes, mamma. Are you better?”
”Is there no one else here?”
”No, mamma. Aunt Candy is out; and I suppose the girls thought you were sleeping. Are you better, mamma? You have had a nice long nap.”
”It's been horrid!” said Mrs. Englefield. ”I have dreamed of every possible dreadful thing.”
”But you feel better now?”
”My head aches--no--oh, my head! Tilly----”
”What, mamma?”
”I am going to be sick. I shan't be about again for a while, I know. I want you to do just what I tell you.”
”Yes, mamma. What?”
”Anne and Letty are going away.”
”Yes, mamma. I know.”
”Do you know why, dear?”
The tone of tender, sorrowful sympathy in which this was said, overcame the child. As her mother's eyes with the question languidly sought her face, Matilda burst into tears and threw herself upon her neck.
”No, don't,” said Mrs. Englefield, faintly,--”I can't bear it. Don't, Matilda! Rise up and listen to me.”
Matilda did as she was told. She forced back her tears; stopped her sobs; dashed away the drops from the corners of her eyes; and sat up again to hear what her mother had to say to her.
”Give me some more water first. Anne and Letty are going away, Tilly; and I cannot be up and see to anything; and I can't hire a woman to do what's to be done. You tell Maria, from me, she must stay home from school and take care of the house. You will do what you can, Tilly--oh, my head!--you can put rooms in order and such things; and Maria must go down into the kitchen and get the breakfast----”
”Must Maria get the dinner too, mamma?”
”Yes, the dinner----”
”But _can_ she, mamma?”
”She _must;_ or else your aunt Candy will hire somebody to do it; and that will come out of what she pays me, and we shall not have enough left. She _must_, Tilly.”
”But aunt Candy wouldn't mind, just while you are sick, mamma, would she?”