Most fortunately, I say, all these had been grossly neglected during her absence, as though under the circumstances of her bereavement, her annual visit was not expected. And the old lady, the mourning widow, seeing the condition of her favorites, ceased to weep like Niobe, and began to scold like Xantippe.
And of course she got better directly.
It took her and her handmaid Drusilla, assisted by a staff of men and maids, the whole summer to bring flowers, poultry and cows up to the old lady’s standard of perfection. And by the time this was done her health and cheerfulness returned.
There was nothing, now that the chief justice was off the bench forever, to call her to the city. So she determined to make Crowood her permanent residence. With this view she wrote to the housekeeper, who had remained in charge of the city house, to pack up her personal effects and forward them to Crowood, and then to come down herself, as the house was to be put into the hands of architects, decorators, and upholsterers, to be thoroughly renovated for the use of the young pair, whose wedding-day was again fixed.
Mrs. Lyon was the more urgent for her housekeeper to hasten to Crowood, because there was a contagious fever of a very malignant type raging in Richmond.
In answer to her letters, Mrs. Sterling sent down, by a wagon express, about seventy trunks, boxes and bundles, and within a week followed them.
“I am very glad you have arrived, Sterling. I had not an easy hour while you remained in the city, exposed to that terrible fever. And Drusilla would have been as anxious as I was if she had known the danger; but I kept it concealed from her. It was of no use to trouble the child,” Mrs. Lyon said, in welcoming her housekeeper.
But the poor old lady of Crowood congratulated herself before the danger was over.
Apparently, Mrs. Sterling had brought down the seeds of fever in her system, for the day after her arrival she was taken with a shivering fit, followed by a glow of heat, head-ache, nausea and prostration, and in twenty-four hours she was in a raging fever and delirium.
The old lady was not a coward; she was a conscientious Christian. Now that the fever had come, she faced it. She sent for the country doctor, and instead of trusting the sick woman to the care of servants, she, with Drusilla’s assistance, nursed the patient in person. This course of conduct was more magnanimous than prudent.