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Page 67
Still Edith opposed, but in vain.
By the time Claire arrived at the auction store, his head was
throbbing with a pain so intense that he could scarcely see. Still, he
resolutely persevered in his determination to go through, if possible,
with the duties of the evening; and so, taking his place at his desk,
as the auctioneer went upon the stand to cry the goods which had
been advertised for sale, he prepared to keep the usual record of
purchasers and prices. This he was able to do for half an hour, when
overtaxed and exhausted nature could bear up no longer.
"Mr. Claire," said the auctioneer, as he took in hand a new article,
"did you make that last entry?--Mr. Jackson, ten cents a yard."
Claire's head had fallen over on the book in which he had been
writing, and the auctioneer, supposing him only yielding to a
momentary feeling of fatigue, or indolence, thus called his attention
to his duties.
But Claire made no answer.
"Say! young man! Are you asleep!" The auctioneer spoke now with some
sharpness of tone; but, as before, his words were not heeded.
"What's the matter, Mr. Claire? Are you sick?"
Still no response or movement.
"Mr. Claire! Bless me!" The auctioneer was now by his side, with his
hand on him. "Bring some water, quick! He's fainted--or is dead! Here!
some one help me to lay him down."
Two or three men came quickly behind the auctioneer's stand and
assisted to lift the insensible man from the high stool on which he
was seated, and place his body in a reclining position. Then water
was dashed into his face, and various other means of restoration used.
Full ten minutes passed before signs of returning life were exhibited.
His recovery was very slow, and it was nearly an hour before he was
well enough to be removed to his dwelling.
The shock of his appearance, supported from the carriage in which he
had been conveyed home, by two men, was terrible to his wife, whose
anxiety and fear had wrought her feelings already up to a high pitch
of excitement.
"Oh! what is the matter? What has happened?" she cried, wringing her
hands, while her face blanched to a deathly paleness.
"Don't be frightened," returned Claire, smiling feebly. "It was only a
slight fainting fit. I'm over it now."
"That's all, madam," said the men who had brought him home. "He merely
fainted. Don't be alarmed. It's all over."
After receiving the thanks of Claire and his assurances that he needed
nothing further from their kindness, the men retired, and Edward then
made every effort in his power to calm down the feelings of his wife,
who continued weeping. This was no easy task, particularly as he was
unable long to hide the many evidences of serious illness from which
he was suffering. Against his remonstrance, so soon as she saw how
it was with him, Mrs. Claire sent off the domestic for their family
physician; who on learning the causes which led to the condition in
which he found his patient, hesitated not to say that he must, as he
valued his life, give up the night tasks he had imposed upon himself.
"Other men," said Claire, in answer to this, "devote quite as many
hours to business."
"All men are not alike in constitution," returned the physician. "And
even the strongest do not make overdrafts upon the system, without
finding, sooner or later, a deficit in their health-account. As
for you, nature has not given you the physical ability for great
endurance. You cannot overtask yourself without a derangement of
machinery."
How reluctantly, and with what a feeling of weakness, Claire
acquiesced in this decision, the reader may imagine.
The morning found him something better, but not well enough to sit up.
Mrs. Claire had, by this time, recovered in a measure her calmness and
confidence. She had thought much, during the sleepless hours of the
preceding night, and though the future was far from opening clearly
to her straining vision, her mind rested in a well-assured confidence
that all things would work together for their good. She knew in whom
she trusted. On the Rock of Ages she had built the habitation where
dwelt her higher hopes; and the storms of this world had no power to
prevail against it.
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