My conference with
Lieutenant Bell had been long; it was now past noon, and knowing how
prompt my wife was to alarm herself, I was surprised that I did not
meet her, nor any of my sons. I began to be uneasy, and on my arrival I
hastily mounted the tree, and found my faithful partner extended on her
bed, surrounded by her four sons, and apparently in great pain. I
demanded, with a cry of grief, what had happened; all wished to speak at
once, and it was with some difficulty I learned, that my dear wife, in
descending the staircase, had been seized with a giddiness in her head,
and had fallen down and injured herself so much, that she was unable to
rise without assistance; she was now enduring great pain in her right
leg and in her left foot. "Ernest and I," added Fritz, "carried her
without delay to her bed, though not without difficulty, for the
staircase is so narrow; but she continued to get worse, and we did not
know what to do."
_Jack_. I have rubbed her foot continually, but it swells more and more,
as well as her leg, which I dare not touch, it hurts her so much.
_Ernest_. I remember, father, that of the chests that we brought from
the ship there is one unopened, which is marked "_medicines,"_--may it
not contain something that will relieve mamma?
_Father_.
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