Mrs.Forbes was considered to be a little fanciful as to illness;but it was no wonder,remembering how many sisters she had lost by consumption.Miss Monro had often grumbled at the way in which her pupils were made irregular for very trifling causes.But no one so alarmed as she,when,in the autumn succeeding Mr.Ness's death,Mrs.
Forbes remarked to her on Ellinor's increased delicacy of appearance,and shortness of breathing.From that time forwards she worried Ellinor (if any one so sweet and patient could ever have been worried)with respirators and precautions.Ellinor submitted to all her friend's wishes and cares,sooner than make her anxious,and remained a prisoner in the house through the whole of November.Then Miss Monro's anxiety took another turn.Ellinor's appetite and spirits failed her--not at all an unnatural consequence of so many weeks'confinement to the house.A plan was started,quite suddenly,one morning in December,that met with approval from everyone but Ellinor,who was,however,by this time too languid to make much resistance.
Mrs.Forbes and her daughters were going to Rome for three or four months,so as to avoid the trying east winds of spring;why should not Miss Wilkins go with them?They urged it,and Miss Monro urged it,though with a little private sinking of the heart at the idea of the long separation from one who was almost like a child to her.
Ellinor was,as it were,lifted off her feet and borne away by the unanimous opinion of others--the doctor included--who decided that such a step was highly desirable;if not absolutely necessary.She knew that she had only a life interest both in her father's property and in that bequeathed to her by Mr.Ness.Hitherto she had not felt much troubled by this,as she had supposed that in the natural course of events she should survive Miss Monro and Dixon,both of whom she looked upon as dependent upon her.All she had to bequeath to the two was the small savings,which would not nearly suffice for both purposes,especially considering that Miss Monro had given up her teaching,and that both she and Dixon were passing into years.
Before Ellinor left England she had made every arrangement for the contingency of her death abroad that Mr.Johnson could suggest.She had written and sent a long letter to Dixon;and a shorter one was left in charge of Canon Livingstone (she dared not hint at the possibility of her dying to Miss Monro)to be sent to the old man.
As they drove out of the King's Cross station,they passed a gentleman's carriage entering.Ellinor saw a bright,handsome lady,a nurse,and baby inside,and a gentleman sitting by them whose face she could never forget.It was Mr.Corbet taking his wife and child to the railway.They were going on a Christmas visit to East Chester deanery.He had been leaning back,not noticing the passers-by,not attending to the other inmates of the carriage,probably absorbed in the consideration of some law case.Such were the casual glimpses Ellinor had of one with whose life she had once thought herself bound up.
Who so proud as Miss Monro when a foreign letter came?Her correspondent was not particularly graphic in her deions,nor were there any adventures to be described,nor was the habit of mind of Ellinor such as to make her clear and definite in her own impressions of what she saw,and her natural reserve kept her from being fluent in communicating them even to Miss Monro.But that lady would have been pleased to read aloud these letters to the assembled dean and canons,and would not have been surprised if they had invited her to the chapter-house for that purpose.To her circle of untravelled ladies,ignorant of Murray,but laudably desirous of information,all Ellinor's historical reminiscences and rather formal details were really interesting.There was no railroad in those days between Lyons and Marseilles,so their progress was slow,and the passage of letters to and fro,when they had arrived in Rome,long and uncertain.But all seemed going on well.Ellinor spoke of herself as in better health;and Canon Livingstone (between whom and Miss Monro great intimacy had sprung up since Ellinor had gone away,and Miss Monro could ask him to tea)confirmed this report of Miss Wilkins's health from a letter which he had received from Mrs.
Forbes.Curiosity about that letter was Miss Monro's torment.What could they have had to write to each other about?It was a very odd proceeding;although the Livingstones and Forbeses were distantly related,after the manner of Scotland.Could it have been that he had offered to Euphemia,after all,and that her mother had answered;or,possibly,there was a letter from Effie herself,enclosed.It was a pity for Miss Monro's peace of mind that she did not ask him straight away.She would then have learnt what Canon Livingstone had no thought of concealing,that Mrs.Forbes had written solely to give him some fuller directions about certain charities than she had had time to think about in the hurry of starting.As it was,and when,a little later on,she heard him speak of the possibility of his going himself to Rome,as soon as his term of residence was over,in time for the Carnival,she gave up her fond project in despair,and felt very much like a child whose house of bricks had been knocked down by the unlucky waft of some passing petticoat.
Meanwhile,the entire change of scene brought on the exquisite refreshment of entire change of thought.Ellinor had not been able so completely to forget her past life for many years;it was like a renewing of her youth;cut so suddenly short by the shears of Fate.
