“Senhora, Senhora! Quick!” she said.
Luiza ran upstairs, followed by Jorge. Juliana was lying on the kitchen floor in a faint.
“It came all of a sudden,” said Joanna, pale and trembling. “She fell suddenly—on her side.”
Julião, who had followed, tranquillized them. It was a simple fainting-fit. They carried her to her room and laid her on the bed. Julião ordered friction to the extremities with a hot flannel. Before Joanna could collect her senses sufficiently to fasten up her hair and go to the apothecary’s for an antispasmodic, Juliana regained consciousness. She was still very weak, however. When they descended to the parlor, Julião, rolling a cigarette, said,—
“This in itself is of no consequence. These fainting-fits are very common in diseases of the heart. But sometimes they assume an apoplectic character, and end in paralysis,—of short duration, for the effusion of blood on the brain is slight; but they are always disagreeable.” And lighting his cigarette he added, “That woman will die in your house the day least expected.”
Jorge, preoccupied, walked up and down the floor with his hands in his pockets.
“I have always said so,” rejoined Donna Felicidade, who was very much frightened, lowering her voice. “I have always said so. You will be obliged to get rid of her.”
“The treatment is incompatible with living at service,” continued Julião. “Even at the wash-tub one might take digitalis or quinine; but the only efficacious treatment is repose,—an absolute avoidance of fatigue. Let her have an annoyance some day, or a morning’s hard work, and she may go off.”
“And is the disease far advanced?” asked Jorge.
“According to what she says, she already feels difficulty in breathing, oppression, sharp pains in the cardiac region, flatulency, moistness of the extremities. All these are the worst possible symptoms.”