CHAPTER VI
But it was decreed by a Higher Power than Hatty's that a fortnight should pass before she should have that close conversation with her brother which she so passionately desired. Another attack of hemorrhage prostrated her the same day on which she looked to have spoken to him, and after that the doctor interdicted her talking for more than a week. She fretted terribly under the restriction; but even when she began to regain a little strength, Alaric always avoided being left alone with her. Elizabeth's devotion was untiring as ever; the greater part of every day was passed in her sick friend's room, and the subject of anxiety common to the brother and to herself did away with much of the restraint and the watchfulness which, as I have already said, characterized their relations at first, after Melchior's departure.
In the mean time Elizabeth received, officially, the news of her large additional inheritance, by reason of the alteration in her uncle's will. She could not affect to regret that the woman who had so infamously deceived the kind old man, and who had done her best to ruin Elizabeth's own life, should not have it in her power
