"Yes," she said, with a sigh; "I almost wish sometimes that he would die."
"Oh, Mrs. Ellis," I exclaimed; "you don't mean that."
"Yes I do," she said, bitterly; "I had rather that he died before I do. Take him into the next room, Jane!"
The girl took the child from me and went away, leaving the door open behind her.
"Would you mind shutting the door?" said Mrs. Ellis. "She always will have it open. And then I can talk to you comfortably; we shall feel quite safe. I have been wishing to see you for more than a week," she went on; "ever since I knew that I was so ill. Oh, Mrs. Stanley, I am so utterly miserable."
"I am very sorry to find you so ill," I said.
"Yes," she said, "I am very ill, and I shall never be well again. The doctor says I am in a rapid decline. It is trouble which has brought it on; you will have heard what trouble we have had."
"Miss Richards told me something about it, when I was with her, a few months before she died," I said.
"Yes, all my money has gone; every farthing of it. My father made some mistake about it, and the investments failed, and we lost it all. And Claude is so angry about it; he says my father has deceived him, and he is just as vexed as if it were my fault; he has not seemed to care for me a bit since then. But I did not mean to speak of that. I don't want to complain. It is natural, I suppose, that he should be vexed. He thought we were rich, and we went on spending a quantity of money, and then, when this came out, all the people sent in their bills, and now all Claude's money has gone too. I don't know what will become of us!"
"And you look so ill," I said; "you ought to be taken care of, Mrs. Ellis."