I am in such difficulties--such a
hard position--'
'You may be very sure I will do anything I can to be of use to you,'
Sidney replied, his thick voice contrasting so strongly with that
which had just failed into silence that he coughed and lowered his
tone after the first few syllables. He meant to express himself
without a hint of emotion, but it was beyond his power. The words in
which she spoke of her calamity seemed so pathetically simple that
they went to his heart. Clara had recovered all her faculties. The
fever and the anguish and the dread were no whit diminished, but
they helped instead of checking her. An actress improvising her
part, she regulated every tone with perfect skill, with inspiration;
the very attitude in which she seated herself was a triumph of the
artist's felicity.
'I just said a word or two in my note,' she resumed, 'that you might
have replied if you thought nothing could be gained by my speaking
to you. I couldn't explain fully what I had in mind. I don't know
that I've anything very clear to say even now, but--you know what
has happened to me; you know that I have nothing to look forward to,
that I can only hope to keep from being & burden to my father.
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