Page 152 - GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Great Expectations

‘Thank you, Miss Havisham,’ she returned, ‘I am as
well as can be expected.’
‘Why, what’s the matter with you?’ asked Miss
Havisham, with exceeding sharpness.

‘Nothing worth mentioning,’ replied Camilla. ‘I don’t
wish to make a display of my feelings, but I have
habitually thought of you more in the night than I am
quite equal to.’
‘Then don’t think of me,’ retorted Miss Havisham.
‘Very easily said!’ remarked Camilla, amiably repressing
a sob, while a hitch came into her upper lip, and her tears
overflowed. ‘Raymond is a witness what ginger and sal
volatile I am obliged to take in the night. Raymond is a
witness what nervous jerkings I have in my legs. Chokings
and nervous jerkings, however, are nothing new to me
when I think with anxiety of those I love. If I could be
less affectionate and sensitive, I should have a better
digestion and an iron set of nerves. I am sure I wish it
could be so. But as to not thinking of you in the night -
The idea!’ Here, a burst of tears.
The Raymond referred to, I understood to be the
gentleman present, and him I understood to be Mr.
Camilla. He came to the rescue at this point, and said in a
consolatory and complimentary voice, ‘Camilla, my dear,

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