Youth, and an elastic constitution, prevailed over disease, and Miriam
was raised from the bed of death; but so changed in person and in
manner, that you would scarcely have recognized her. She was thinner,
but not paler--an intense consuming fire burned in and out upon her
cheek, and smouldered and flashed from her eye. Self-concentrated and
reserved, she replied not at all, or only in monosyllables, to the words
addressed to her, and withdrew more into herself.
At length, Dr. Douglass advised their return home. And therefore they
set out, and upon the last of March, approached Dell-Delight.
The sky was overcast, the ground was covered with snow, the weather was
damp, and very cold for the last of March. As evening drew on, and the
leaden sky lowered, and the chill damp penetrated the comfortable
carriage in which they traveled, Mr. Willcoxen redoubled his attentions
to Miriam, carefully wrapping her cloak and furs about her, and letting
down the leathern blinds and the damask hangings, to exclude the cold;
but Miriam shrank from his touch, and shivered more than before, and
drew closely into her own corner.
"Poor child, the cold nips and shrivels her as it does a tropical
flower," said Thurston, desisting from his efforts after he had tucked a
woolen shawl around her feet.
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