In this sober suit, with
plain linen collar and cuffs, the Somerset dressed herself, and resumed
her watching by the bedside. She kept more than ever out of sight, for
the patient was now beginning to mutter incoherently, yet in a way that
showed his clouded faculties were dwelling on the calamity which had
befallen him.
About noon the bell was rung sharply, and, on Polly entering, Rhoda
called her to the window and showed her two female figures plodding
down the street. "Look," said she. "Those are the only women I envy.
Sisters of Charity. Run you after them, and take a good look at those
beastly ugly caps: then come and tell me how to make one."
"Here's a go!" said Polly; but executed the commission promptly.
It needed no fashionable milliner to turn a yard of linen into one of
those ugly caps, which are beautiful banners of Christian charity and
womanly tenderness to the sick and suffering. The monster cap was made
in an hour, and Miss Somerset put it on, and a thick veil, and then she
no longer thought it necessary to sit out of the patient's sight.
The consequence was that, in the middle of his ramblings, he broke off
and looked at her. The sister puzzled him. At last he called to her in
French.
She made no reply.
"Je suis a l'hopital, n'est ce pas bonne soeur?"
"I am English," said she, softly.
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