THE sun looked bright the morning after, to every eye in the village
but _Le Fever_’s and his afflicted son’s; the hand of death pressed
heavy upon his eye-lids,——and hardly could the wheel at the cistern
turn round its circle,—when my uncle _Toby_, who had rose up an hour
before his wonted time, entered the lieutenant’s room, and without
preface or apology, sat himself down upon the chair by the bed-side,
and, independently of all modes and customs, opened the curtain in the
manner an old friend and brother officer would have done it, and asked
him how he did,—how he had rested in the night,—what was his
complaint,—where was his pain,—and what he could do to help him:——and
without giving him time to answer any one of the enquiries, went on,
and told him of the little plan which he had been concerting with the
corporal the night before for him.——
——You shall go home directly, _Le Fever_, said my uncle _Toby_, to my
house,—and we’ll send for a doctor to see what’s the matter,—and we’ll
have an apothecary,—and the corporal shall be your nurse;——and I’ll be
your servant, _Le Fever._
There was a frankness in my uncle _Toby_,—not the _effect_ of
familiarity,—but the cause of it,—which let you at once into his soul,
and shewed you the goodness of his nature; to this there was something
in his looks, and voice, and manner, superadded, which eternally
beckoned to the unfortunate to come and take shelter under him, so that
before my uncle _Toby_ had half finished the kind offers he was making
to the father, had the son insensibly pressed up close to his knees,
and had taken hold of the breast of his coat, and was pulling it
towards him.——The blood and spirits of _Le Fever_, which were waxing
cold and slow within him, and were retreating to their last citadel,
the heart—rallied back,—the film forsook his eyes for a moment,—he
looked up wishfully in my uncle _Toby_’s face,—then cast a look upon
his boy,——and that _ligament_, fine as it was,—was never broken.——
Nature instantly ebb’d again,—the film returned to its place,——the
pulse fluttered——stopp’d——went on——throbb’d———stopp’d
again——moved——stopp’d——shall I go on?——No.