You see, Maurice, I really could not
help it, the poor little thing was so sickly, and had never thriven;
but when they were a little while in bracing air, Lucy was longing to
have him in England, and his father, who never believes in anything
but what he likes, _would_ not see it, and what with those Italian
servants, and Algernon hunting Lucy about as he does, it would have
been the death of him. Susan, good creature, had taken to him of her
own accord the moment we came to Naples, and could not have borne to
leave him, and you know the Awk is almost off her hands now, and
Sophy, who first proposed it, or I am sure I should never have
ventured, is delighted to do anything for either of them, and always
has her little sister in her room. As to papa, he was very good, and
the child is very little in his way, and has been quite well ever
since we have been in this delicious air.'
'How did you get Lucy to consent?'
'Poor dear, it was a melancholy business; but she had so often been
in alarm about him, and had suffered so much from having to leave him
with people she did not trust, that she caught at the proposal before
she fairly contemplated what the parting would be; and when she did,
Algernon was too glad to be relieved from him not to keep her up to
it, but it wont do to think of it, she has her baby, who is
healthier, and if they remain abroad, I suspect we shall keep little
Ralph altogether; he is a dear little fellow, and Sophy has so taken
possession of Albinia, that I should be quite lost if I did not set
up a private child.
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