When left alone the young man's eyes flamed with fury, his lips trembled, he crumpled the sheet with twitching fingers, and he broke into a torrent of awful interjections peculiar to the brief and terrible rages of men of sanguine temperament.
Before he had completely got over his excitement he heard a soft tap at the door, and, thinking it was his wife, he called out angrily:
The person who had knocked, alarmed doubtless by the tone of his voice, waited a minute before replying. At last a soft voice said:
"Ah, excuse me, Cecilia. Come in," he returned, suddenly mollified. His sister-in-law opened the door, came in, and carefully shut it behind her.
"I came to know how you are, and to tell you that if you want the lemonade it is ready made."
"I am better, thank you. If I keep on like this I shall be able to get up to-morrow or next day."
"Ventura began doing it just now, but she did not finish," he replied, as a frown again darkened his brow.
"Yes, I just met her in the passage, and she told me that you were cross because you thought the task was repugnant to her," said Cecilia, smiling kindly.
"It is not that, it is not that," returned the young man in an impatient tone and somewhat shamefacedly.
"You must forgive her, for she is not accustomed to these things. She is but a child. Besides, in her state of health she is easily upset."
"It is not that!" repeated the young man with increased impatience, and slightly raising his head from the pillows. "I should be very stupid and very selfish if I were to put myself out for something which, after all, she can not help. That is a matter of temperament, and I am accustomed to bear it in mind, especially as it is a question of my wife, and she is not well. But it is more than that, and this is the last straw that breaks the camel's back. I have now been in bed ten days and she has not entered the room more than two or three times a day, and those occasions were generally when I sent for her. Do you think that is how a husband ought to be treated by a wife? If it had not been for you and for mama--especially you--I should have been left to servants, like in a hospital."
"Yes, yes, Cecilia," he returned emphatically, and raising himself up, "abandoned. My wife only appears when anybody comes to see me. Then, yes, she comes sweeping in, redolent with perfumes and glazing with colors. But as to bringing me tisanes, carrying out the doctor's orders, or keeping me company a while by reading or talking--nothing of the sort. Just now I begged her to take off the blister for me, and even as I mentioned it her whole face changed. She began by making excuses to avoid doing it, and it was only when I insisted on it that she made up her mind to do it, but with such a bad grace and with such a cross face that I felt inclined to tear the things out of her hand. I should not have had a spark of dignity or self-respect if I had let her go on."