"I should recommend a complete change of scene altogether, Mr. Carlyle. Say some place on the French or Belgian coast. Sea bathing might do wonders."
"Should you think it well for her to go so far from home?"
"I should. In these cases of protracted weakness, where you can do nothing but try to coax the strength back again, change of air and scene are of immense benefit."
"I will propose it to her," said Mr. Carlyle.
"I have just done so," replied Dr. Martin, who was the other speaker.
"She met it with objection, which I expected, for invalids naturally feel a disinclination to move from home. But it is necessary that she should go."
The object of their conversation was Lady Isabel. Years had gone on, and there were three children now at East Lynne--Isabel, William, and Archibald--the latter twelve months old. Lady Isabel had, a month or two back, been attacked with illness; she recovered from the disorder; but it had left her in an alarming state of weakness; she seemed to get worse instead of better, and Dr. Martin was summoned from Lynneborough. The best thing he could recommend--as you save seen--was change of air.
Lady Isabel was unwilling to take the advice; more especially to go so far as the "French coast." And but for a circumstance that seemed to have happened purposely to induce her to decide, would probably never have gone. Mrs. Ducie--the reader may not have forgotten her name--had, in conjunction with her husband, the honorable Augustus, somewhat run out at the elbows, and found it convenient to enter for a time on the less expensive life of the Continent. For eighteen months she had been staying in Paris, the education of her younger daughters being the plea put forth, and a very convenient plea it is, and serves hundreds. Isabel had two or three letters from her during her absence, and she now received another, saying they were going to spend a month or two at Boulogne-sur-Mer. Mr. Carlyle, Mr. Wainwright, and Dr.
Martin--in short, everybody--declared this must remove all Lady Isabel's unwillingness to go from home, for Mrs. Ducie's society would do away with the loneliness she had anticipated, which had been the ostensible score of her objection.
"Boulogne-sur-Mer, of all places, in the world!" remonstrated Lady Isabel. "It is spoken of as being crowded and vulgar."
"The more amusing for you, my lady," cried Dr. Martin, while Mr. Carlyle laughed at her. And finding she had no chance against them all, she consented to go, and plans were hastily decided upon.
"Joyce," said Lady Isabel to her waiting maid, "I shall leave you at home; I must take Wilson instead."
"Oh, my lady! What have I done?"
"You have done all that you ought, Joyce, but you must stay with the children. If I may not take them, the next best thing will be to leave them in your charge, not Miss Carlyle's," she said, shaking her voice; "if it were Wilson who remained, I could not do that."
"My lady, I must do whatever you think best. I wish I could attend you and stay with them, but of course I cannot do both."
"I am sent away to get health and strength, but it may be that I shall die, Joyce. If I never come back, will you promise to remain with my children?"
Joyce felt a creeping sensation in her veins, the sobs rose in her throat, but she swallowed them down and constrained her voice to calmness. "My lady, I hope you will come back to us as well as you used to be. I trust you will hope so too, my lady, and not give way to low spirits."
"I sincerely hope and trust I shall," answered Lady Isabel, fervently.
"Still, there's no telling, for I am very ill. Joyce, give me your promise. In case of the worst, you will remain with the children."
"I will, my lady--as long as I am permitted."
"And be kind to them and love them, and shield them from--from--any unkindness that may be put upon them," she added, her head full of Miss Carlyle, "and talk to them sometimes of their poor mother, who is gone?"
"I will, I will--oh my lady, I will!" And Joyce sat down in the rocking-chair as Lady Isabel quitted her, and burst into tears.
Mr. Carlyle and Lady Isabel, with Wilson and Peter in attendance, arrived at Boulogne, and proceeded to the Hotel des Bains. It may be as well to mention that Peter had been transferred from Miss Carlyle's service to theirs, when the establishment was first formed at East Lynne. Upon entering the hotel they inquired for Mrs. Ducie, and then a disappointment awaited them. A letter was handed them which had arrived that morning from Mrs. Ducie, expressing her regret that certain family arrangements prevented her visiting Boulogne; she was proceeding to some of the baths in Germany instead.
"I might almost have known it," remarked Isabel. "She was always the most changeable of women."
Mr. Carlyle went out in search of lodgings, Isabel objecting to remain in the bustling hotel. He succeeded in finding some very desirable ones, situated in the Rue de l'Ecu, near the port, and they moved into them. He thought the journey had done her good, for she looked better, and said she already felt stronger. Mr. Carlyle remained with her three days; he had promised only one, but he was pleased with everything around him, pleased with Isabel's returning glimpses of health, and amused with the scenes of the busy town.
The tide served at eight o'clock the following morning, and Mr. Carlyle left by the Folkestone boat. Wilson made his breakfast, and after swallowing it in haste, he returned to his wife's room to say farewell.
"Good-bye, my love," he said, stooping to kiss her, "take care of yourself."
"Give my dear love to the darlings, Archibald. And--and----"
"And what?" he asked. "I have not a moment to lose."
"Do not get making love to Barbara Hare while I am away."
She spoke in a tone half jest, half serious--could he but have seen how her heart was breaking! Mr. Carlyle took it wholly as a jest, and went away laughing. Had he believed she was serious, he could have been little more surprised had she charged him not to go about the country on a dromedary.
