A Village Ophelia and Other Stories
A VILLAGE OPHELIA BY ANNE REEVE ALDRICH NEW YORK: _W. Dillingham Co., Publishers_, MDCCCXCIX. CONTENTS A VILLAGE OPHELIA A STORY OF THE VERE DE VERE A LAMENTABLE COMEDY
All through that day and the next night she was restless and agitated;
but still her pulse improved a little. Next morning she was again a
trifle better. Temperature falling--a hundred and one, point three. At
ten o'clock Hilda came in to her, radiant.
"Well, Isabel, dear," she cried, bending down and touching her cheek
(kissing is forbidden by the rules of the house), "Arthur has come. He
is here... down below... I have seen him."
"Seen him!" the girl gasped.
"Yes, seen him. Talked with him. Such a nice, manly fellow; and such
an honest, good face! He is longing for you to get well. He says he has
come home this time to marry you."
The wan lips quivered. "He will NEVER marry me!"
"Yes, yes, he WILL--if you will take this jelly. Look here--he wrote
these words to you before my very eyes: 'Dear love to my Isa!'... If you
are good, and will sleep, he may see you--to-morrow."
The girl opened her lips and ate the jelly greedily. She ate as much
as she was desired. In three minutes more her head had fallen like a
child's upon her pillow and she was sleeping peacefully.
A VILLAGE OPHELIA BY ANNE REEVE ALDRICH NEW YORK: _W. Dillingham Co., Publishers_, MDCCCXCIX. CONTENTS A VILLAGE OPHELIA A STORY OF THE VERE DE VERE A LAMENTABLE COMEDY