In the morning the sufferer had grown calmer;
consciousness had returned, and his eyes sparkled again with
intelligence. The fever had left him, but he was utterly prostrated. The
physician had just paid him a visit, and examined his condition in
silence. "Dear doctor," whispered the baroness, as he was departing,
"you find my husband very ill, I suppose? Oh, I read it in your face; I
perceive from your emotion that you have not much hope of his recovery!"
And the tears she knew how to conceal in the sick-room fell without
restraint.
"He is very ill," said the physician, thoughtfully, "but I do not
believe his case to be entirely hopeless; for an unforeseen circumstance
may come to our assistance and give his mind some energy, when it will
favorably influence the body. If the body alone were suffering, science
would suggest ways and means to cure a disease which, in itself, is
easily overcome. The tertain fever belongs neither to the dangerous
acute diseases nor to any graver class. But, in this case, it is only
the external eruption of a disease seated in the patient's mind."
"Whence, then, is recovery to come in these calamitous and depressing
times?" said the baroness, mournfully. "His grief at the misfortunes of
Prussia is gnawing at his heart, and all the mortifications and
misrepresentations he has suffered at the hands of the very men whom he
served with so much fidelity have pierced his soul like poisoned
daggers.
Pages:
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450