come and win an appetite for our country breakfast, our new-laid eggs: the children are hunting for them amongst the hay, and here comes my little namesake with her prize: she has brought hers for your breakfast.”
Mr. Draper did not arrive at the time he appointed, and Frances often felt the sickness of hope delayed. “Deliver me from such excellent husbands,” said Charlotte to Howard, “who are wasting the best years of their lives in acquiring wealth for their families, and yet never think themselves rich enough. Here is poor Frances, kept in a state of feverish anxiety, when rest and tranquillity are absolutely necessary for the restoration of her health.”
The Saturday evening following, Mr. Draper arrived. He was delighted to see his wife and children, and thought they looked remarkably well. On Sunday morning, he walked with his brother over the farm, and calculated the probable receipts of the year. Away from the atmosphere of business, his mind seemed to recover its former freshness. “How beautiful this stillness is!” said he: “it reminds me of
the mythology of the heathen world; the ancients used to say that when Pan slept, all nature held its breath, lest it should awake him. You have made an enthusiast of Frances; nothing will do for her now but the country.”
“My wife is anxious about the health of yours,” said Howard; “she thinks her cough an indication of weak lungs.”
“I know,” said Mr. Draper, stopping short, “she is subject to a cough; ours is a miserable climate; I hope the warm weather will entirely banish it. I have a bad cough myself;”—and he coughed with energy.
“I wish, brother,” said Howard, “that period had arrived, at which you have so long been aiming, that you thought yourself rich enough to devote more time to your family.”
“No one can look forward to it more eagerly than I do,” replied Mr. Draper; “but you can little understand the difficulty of withdrawing from business. However, I fully mean to do it, when I have secured to my wife and children an inheritance.”
Howard smiled.
“O,” said Mr. Draper, in reply to the smile,