self unnecessarily, and that she would permit the dear children to remain under her charge till they were completely cured. Lady Anne complied literally with both requests.
The next day, Mrs. Palmer received a very elegant-looking epistle, franked by the Earl of Rotheles. She was overwhelmed with a prodigality of most graceful thanks; and Mademoiselle Virginie with an equal number of reproaches. Lady Anne was then overwhelmed, in her turn, with the sense of Mrs. Palmer's kindness. She could not justify to herself further intrusion; still, as she had pressed the children's stay so much, she would accept the offer on account of her eldest daughters, for Mary's health was very delicate, and Louisa at that time ill with a cold.
Mrs. Palmer thought her own letter a triumph of skill—the real triumph was Lady Anne's. The girls, though their illness was long and dangerous, recovered under Mrs. Palmer's care, who watched over them as if they had been her own; and from that time an affection, as valuable as it was pleasant, sprang up between them. When Lady Anne returned, she called, and talked about every thing but the apothecary's bill. The acquaintance became at once a matter of form between the two elder ladies, one that Lady Anne would have broken off, if she could with the least regard to common decency. But the girls clung to their new and kind friend with all the earnestness of gratitude in the young; indeed, their chief pleasures and comforts they owed to Mrs. Palmer.
