This marriage which is
to take place in the autumn is the second shock to his mother.
"You will want to hear of other people. And this reminds me that a
few of your friends have turned against you and insist that these
stories about Rowan are false, and even accuse you of starting
them. This brings me to Marguerite.
"Soon after her ball she had typhoid fever. In her delirium of
whom do you suppose she incessantly and pitifully talked? Every
one had supposed that she and Barbee were sweethearts--and had been
for years. But Barbee's name was never on her lips. It was all
Rowan, Rowan, Rowan. Poor child, she chided him for being so cold
to her; and she talked to him about the river of life and about his
starting on the long voyage from the house of his fathers; and
begged to be taken with him, and said that in their family the
women never loved but once. When she grew convalescent, there was
a consultation of the grandmother and the mother and the doctors:
one passion now seemed to constitute all that was left of
Marguerite's life; and that was like a flame burning her strength
away.
"They did as the doctor said had to be done. Mrs. Meredith had
been very kind during her illness, had often been to the house.
They kept from her of course all knowledge of what Marguerite had
disclosed in her delirium. So when Marguerite by imperceptible
degrees grew stronger, Mrs. Meredith begged that she might be moved
out to the country for the change and the coolness and the quiet;
and the doctors availed themselves of this plan as a solution of
their difficulty--to lessen Marguerite's consuming desire by
gratifying it.
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