Chapter IV.
The Chinese Parlour.
Mrs. Gatty's Fever having now turned, 'tis incredible the Gratitude she expressed to me for all my Care of her during the course of it. I may say that during the whole Term, the only Concern Lady Betty shewed whether she were likely to sink or swim, was conveyed in a single Message, and that of the briefest; to know, was she about yet? a likely Thing, when the Girl was at that Moment in a Fever-Lethargy! Gatty took it mighty little to Heart, I must say for her, when she learned how little Recollection of her had been intimated; and she said, with a Smile, she was ready to wish they should forget her altogether, so content was she to remain, and so loth to go back.
And now her Appetite mended apace, and she began to regain Colour and Flesh, and the Chamber was fumigated, and she had a warm Bath, and Dr. Elwes pronounced that she might go below with Safety to herself and others. We resolved to make a little Festival of it, and asked him to sup with us, which he cheerfully consented to; and I had Pleasure in combing out Gatty's long fine Hair, which she was yet unequal to doing herself, and arranging her Dress with some Air of Smartness.
After this, she reclined in the Arm-Chair by the Window, to repose herself a little before she went down Stairs. Meanwhile, I tended a Rose that grew in a Pot that stood in the Window-Sill, and had just finished watering it, when, as Ill-Luck would have it, the Water, filtering too quickly through the Pot, descended copiously on some one who had got his Head out of the Window beneath.
"Hallo! Who's that, giving me a Shower-Bath?" cries Mr. Fenwick; at the first Sound of whose Voice I drew my Head in quickly, and we both fell a laughing.
"Don't let us answer," says Gatty.
"Let us both put our Heads out at the same Moment," said I, "and then he won't know which it was."
It was a pert Thing to do, but we were just then in cheerful Spirits; so we looked out, without looking down, quite unconcernedly.
"I am glad to see you so much better, Mrs. Gatty," said Mr. Fenwick; "poor Mrs. Patty, though, looks all the worse for her shutting up. You remind me of the two Damsels in Don Quixote, looking through the Inn-Casement, and plotting Mischief."