“‘I wish I had nothing but a headache, I should not complain of the gloomy room.’ Tears started in those soft blue eyes, and ran down her cheeks. ‘Oh my father,’ she murmured in broken tones, ‘if you only knew how desolate and lonely I am, I am sure you would come to me.’
“‘Don’t cry,’ I exclaimed, moved at her grief, and wishing to console her, ‘I am sure you’ll get well yet.’
“‘Go away, child, you worry me; you cannot bring me what I long for, my dear father.’
“‘Where is your father, is he very far from here? why don’t he come to see you, when you want to see him?’
“‘He don’t know that I am ill, that I am dying; if he did, oh how quickly would he fly to me.’
“‘Why don’t you write to him, and ask him to take you away from the school?’
“‘I have written several times, but I know my letters are never sent, if they had been, he would have been here long ago; I know I shall die soon; it is now two years since father placed me here, and I have been sick for more than a year. He went to Greece and Sicily. Oh, how I wish I were with him. It must be a dreadful thing to die,’ she continued, after a moment’s pause; ‘did you ever think about dying, child?’
“‘No, I never thought much about it; I always thought about being happy, and wished to be so.’
“‘At home in dear England, I was happy, with all dear friends around us; but to be ill in a strange country, among people I care nothing about, and who care nothing for me, oh how dreadful it is.’ She hid her face in her hands, and sighed, and sobbed. I wished I had been better acquainted with her, I would have thrown my arms around her neck, and kissed her, but I did not like to take such a liberty with an utter stranger. Miss Jones stole suddenly upon us, followed by the physician, and I glided back to my former position. He talked for sometime to Miss Clarendon in a low voice, and she replied in the same subdued tone; I could not catch any of their conversation. Then he passed to the bedsides of some of the other invalids, and paused for some time at that of a little girl, who was raving deliriously with typhus fever; her little hands lay outside the coverlid, and she sometimes clasped them frantically above her head, and demanded her golden crown. Poor little innocent, I hope she obtained it in a better, brighter sphere; for, a few days after, I saw the same slight form arrayed in its grave clothes, and she was borne to her last and silent resting place.
“The physician prescribed for me abstinence for twenty-four hours, and a dose of Epsom salts, both of which recipes I considered entirely unnecessary, as fasting was a virtue which we, from necessity, were constantly obliged to practise, and as for the salts, I really did not need it. It was now quite dark, and two lamps, shedding a dim light, were placed by the nurse on tables at either end of the room. I saw the young English girl undress, and her servant assisted her into bed; she coughed continually, and the traces of tears were still on her cheeks; how sorry I felt for her, if I had been a carrier-pigeon, how willingly would I have flown to Sicily, or anywhere on earth, to have told that beloved parent of her sad condition, and restored him to her.