PAGE 22
The Ruined Family
by
At breakfast, she forced herself to swallow a small portion of food, although her stomach loathed it; and then, with trembling limbs and a feeling of faintness, she went out into the open air, and took her way to the store. The fresh breeze, as it fell coolingly on her fevered forehead, revived her in a degree; but long ere she had reached the store her limbs were sinking under her with excessive fatigue.
“Late again, miss–” said her employer, as she came in, with a look of stern reproof.
“I have not been very well, sir,” Anna replied, lifting her pale, languid face, and looking appealingly into the countenance of the store-keeper.
“Then you should stay at home altogether, Miss,” was is cold response, as he turned away, leaving her to proceed to her accustomed station at the counter.
The day happening to be one of unusual activity in business, Anna was kept so constantly busy, that she could not find a moment in which to relieve the fatigue she felt by even leaning on the counter. Customer after customer came and went, and box after box was taken from, and replaced again upon the shelves, in what seemed to her an endless round. Sometimes her head ached so violently, that it was with difficulty she could see to attend correctly to her business. And sometimes she was compelled to steady herself by holding to the counter to prevent sinking to the floor, from a feeling of faintness, suddenly passing over her. Thus she held bravely on, under the feeble hope that her indisposition, as she tried mentally to term it, would wear off.
It was about four o’clock in the afternoon that the fever which had been very high all through the day, began to subside. This symptom she noticed with an emotion of pleasure, as indicating a healthy reaction in her system.
It was but half an hour after, that she sunk, fainting, to the floor, at her place beside the counter. When the fever abated, exhausted nature gave way.
For nearly an hour she remained insensible. And it was nearly two hours before she had so far recovered as to be able to walk, when she was suffered to go away unattended. It was seven o’clock, when, with a face almost as white as ashes, and nearly sinking to the ground with weakness, she arrived at home, and opening the door, slowly entered.
“O, Anna! What ails you?” exclaimed her mother.
“I feel very sick,” the poor girl replied, sinking into a chair. “But where is Alfred?” she asked, in a quicker tone, in which was a strong expression of anxiety, as she glanced her eye about the room, in a vain search for him.
“He has walked out,” Mary said.
“Has he!” ejaculated Anna. “How long has he been away?”
“It is now nearly four hours,'” Mary said, endeavouring to conceal the distress she felt, in pity for her sister, who was evidently quite ill.
“Four hours!” exclaimed Anna, her face blanching to still whiter hue. “Four hours! And do you not know where he is?”
“Indeed we do not, Anna. He went out to take a short walk, and said he would not be gone more than ten or twenty minutes.”
Anna did not reply, but turned slowly away, and entering her chamber, threw herself exhausted upon her bed, feeling so utterly wretched, that she breathed an audible wish that she might die. In about ten minutes a carriage stopped at the door; and in a moment after, amid the rattling of departing wheels, Alfred entered, looking better and happier than he had looked for a long, long time. A single glance told the mother and sister that all was right.
“O, brother! How could you stay away so long?” Mary said, springing to his side, and grasping tightly his arm.
“I did not expect, when I walked out, that it would be so long before I returned, Mary,” he replied, kissing her cheek affectionately. “But I met with an old, though long estranged friend, who seeing that I had been ill, and needed fresh air, insisted on taking me out into the country in his carriage. I could but consent. I was, however, so weak, as to be obliged to go to bed, when about three miles from the city, and lie there for a couple of hours. But I feel well, very well now; and have some good news to tell you. But where is Anna?”