Beautiful Rienzi; or, The secret vendetta — page 101: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

96 BEAUTIFUL RIENZI. my father waited on him inthe outer chamber, and listened to his opinion, as the voice of an oracle. ‘* She’s in a most extraordinary condition,” he said, look- ing gravely at my anxious father, ‘‘some deep, mental dis- order has occasioned this final rupture, and the state of emaci- ation which she isin, confirms the idea of mental rather than bodily distress having brought her so low. Wherever she has been, Mr. Rienzi, she has been most cruelly tam- pered with. It is a wonder her mind is not gone. [find in her a predisposition to mania, and under the present pressure she will succumb to it.” ‘What can we do to lighten the pressure, doctor? She can or will give us no clew to her sufferings.” “<'There’s little can be done in that case, but do what you can. Keep her quiet, cheer and animate her mind; avoid every distressing theme; when she can be moved, have her out of this to some quiet spot in the country for change of air and scene; give her what she wants—anything, if you know of it, and then, perhaps, she may live for years. But I tell you honestly, Mr. Rienzi, don’t hope too much, she may be spared long or short, but mark you— she’s got her death blow. Now confide to me the circum- stances under which you found her, that I may have some insight to the malady of her mind.” My father immediately complied with his request, he led him down stairs, and acquainted him with evervthing, and received in return the most cordial sympathy from the good old doctor who had been a family friend for years. Then he went away—one more repository of our strange secret. Quietly we put the house in order for its new misfor- tune; we made our preparations to wait for the victory of life or death in that secret chamber; we calmly prepared to take the burden of nursing upon ourselves, my father, Sophie and I, and still to meet the world’s watchful eyes, revealing nothing. My father and I were -to sit up each alternate night; Sophie to take the charge through the day, so that we might follow our usual duties, and divert suspicion. We had indeed little hope of bringing her through, but we resolved with Heaven's mercy and Dr. Grave's skill to do our best. Under these arrangements, my father commenced the first night at ten o’clock, the door locked as usual, the win- CORNUCG OOO S (©)