The brute added with a
sneer that a wife was "a luxury" which he should have thought I could
hardly afford. We divided between us, however, at home the twenty-
four hours during which we stood sentinels against death, and
occasionally we were relieved by one or two friends. I went on duty
from about eight in the evening till one in the morning, and was then
relieved by Mrs. Taylor, who remained till ten or eleven. She then
went to bed, and was replaced by little Marie. What a change came
over that child! I was amazed at her. All at once she seemed to
have found what she was born to do. The key had been discovered,
which unlocked and revealed what there was in her, of which hitherto
I had been altogether unaware. Although she was so little, she
became a perfect nurse. Her levity disappeared; she was grave as a
matron, moved about as if shod in felt, never forgot a single
direction, and gave proper and womanly answers to strangers who
called. Faculties unsuspected grew almost to full height in a single
day. Never did she relax during the whole of that dreadful time, or
show the slightest sign of discontent. She sat by her mother's side,
intent, vigilant; and she had her little dinner prepared and taken up
into the sickroom by Mrs.
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