Page:Lady Anne Granard, or Keeping up Appearances Volume 2.pdf/48

46, to appear well, and, thank God, I soon became so; but he did not, therefore, get better: on the contrary, he is frequently pale and abstracted. If ever we speak of Rome, he becomes either bewildered or angry; yet, if a cross word escapes him, makes ten times the apology called for. Your anxiety about me, dear sister, has prevented your noticing these things, but I cannot fail to see them; besides, no one can observe so much as myself; he often sighs and mutters in his sleep, and more than once has said, "dear Margarita!' or 'oh, Margarita!" "That is accounted for by his anxiety for you, since Margarita is your name; though seldom used in your family, he may like it the best." "He may" said the young wife, musingly, "but I have a great notion, Mary, that he is not thinking of me. Sleep restores the absent and the dead. It strikes me that the passion of his youth referred to, when he made me an offer, has been felt for one whom he knew in Italy, and who probably died here." "Very likely, my dear; it is by no means uncommon for young and beautiful girls in consumption (the most interesting of all human beings) to end their short lives in this country." "I think he supposed that a length of time, a new connection, and the great pleasure he has in works of art and the many glories of Italy, would enable him to bear the memory of her loss with resignation and calmness, whereas he finds himself more affected than he