Page 26 - of-human-bondage-

first they thought she must have gone to Miss Watkin, and
the cook was sent round. Miss Watkin came back with her
and was waiting anxiously in the drawing-room. She came
downstairs now full of anxiety and reproaches; but the
exertion had been more than Mrs. Carey was fit for, and
when the occasion for firmness no longer existed she gave
way. She fell heavily into Emma’s arms and was carried up-
stairs. She remained unconscious for a time that seemed
incredibly long to those that watched her, and the doctor,
hurriedly sent for, did not come. It was next day, when she
was a little better, that Miss Watkin got some explanation
out of her. Philip was playing on the floor of his mother’s
bed-room, and neither of the ladies paid attention to him.
He only understood vaguely what they were talking about,
and he could not have said why those words remained in
his memory.
‘I wanted the boy to have something to remember me by
when he grows up.’
‘I can’t make out why she ordered a dozen,’ said Mr. Car-
ey. ‘Two would have done.’