"
"I should like that," said Henrietta and the choice fell on the
"Pickwick Papers." But as the English governess complained that she
could never read aloud for ten minutes at a time without growing hoarse
and Clementina's eyes were too weak for any such office, it was
suggested that Margari should be asked to submit to this extra
sacrifice, and Clementina succeeded in persuading him to do so by
promising him a liberal reward. So she brought him back with her and
seated him behind a curtain so that he could not see the invalid (that
would have been scarcely proper), and put the book into his hand.
But scarcely had Margari struggled through a few lines when Henrietta
again became fidgety and said she longed for something to eat. The
good-natured Clementina jumped with joy at this sign of returning
appetite, and asked her what she would like and how she would like it.
Henrietta thereupon directed her to have prepared a soup of such a
complicated character (only the morbid imagination of an invalid could
have conceived such a monstrosity), that Clementina felt obliged to
descend to the kitchen herself to superintend its concoction herself,
for it was certain that any servant would have forgotten half the
ingredients before she could get down stairs.
Scarcely had Clementina shut the door behind her when Henrietta
interrupted Margari's elocution.
"For Heaven's sake, come nearer to me," she said, "I want to speak to
you.
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