Chapter XXVIII: She Is Still More Puzzled What to Do

But Frau Müller was too cautious to say anything about the existence of Dorina till she had thought the matter over most deeply, and had consulted her sister, who had been housekeeper at Hohenstein, on the subject. She therefore returned to Grätz at once, and had the delight of finding her lady rather improved in health. But the doctor advised that she should be fed on the most nourishing diet, and he gave hopes that when she should become stronger, she might regain her reason. His hope was soon afterwards fulfilled; and one day, when Frau Müller came into the room, Dorina gazed at her with a look of gradually awakening surprise.

The good Frau feared to speak, or show the joy she felt, lest the awakening to consciousness should be too sudden; so she sat quietly down at her knitting by the bedside, and soon afterwards Dorina seemed to be sinking into a quieter sleep than she had hitherto witnessed; and though pale, the features wore a calmer expression.

She slept so soundly for many hours, that the nurse was afraid of moving, lest she should disturb that sweet sleep, for she had not seen the loved child look so happy since her accident. Suddenly it occurred to her, should the Gräfinn regain her reason, how could she ever bear to hear that her betrothed, whom she loved with all the ardour of her loving heart, was faithless, and had actually married?

When Frau Müller thought of this, she began to dread Dorina’s awakening to reason. How could she ever tell her the truth?--or how could she conceal it?

While the good Frau was revolving these most painful questions in her mind, she saw Dorina’s eyes open, and this time a look of pleasure was mingled with surprise, and she said, “Where am I?”

The nurse endeavoured to evade the answer by trying to persuade her to go to sleep after she had taken some nourishment. She endeavoured to make Dorina understand that she had been dangerously ill, and that she must not talk nor think of anything.

Fortunately the doctor made his daily visit while she was endeavouring to find excuses to evade the answers to her lady’s questions. He at once saw the importance of keeping her mind quiet; and as the want of sleep had been one of the main causes of the distraction in her brain, he told Frau Müller to give her niece (for he had been led to suppose that the invalid was her niece) a powerful narcotic, in case she did not fall asleep again soon after she had taken the nourishment, which she now seemed to eat with some appetite, and by all means not to let her speak at all of the accident which had caused all her sufferings.

Fortunately Dorina had no notion of the length of time which had elapsed since her fatal fall, and had a kind of vague idea that it was the next day she had awakened. As soon as she began to recollect the past, she thought that the reason of her being in the cottage was that she had been too ill to be moved home; and she asked over and over again why her father was not there, and how soon would he come to see her?

At first the poor nurse said the Count was ill, and not able to leave his room for some days; but she had sent a message to say that the Gräfinn would know him now, and she had no doubt he would come to-morrow.

But when the morrow came, and Dorina saw the shadow of evening darken the lattice window, and her father did not appear, she became so excited that Frau Müller was at her wits’ end what to do or say. Her sister strongly advised her to tell the truth; and, in fact, she took upon herself the responsibility, as she saw it would be impossible to keep up any delusion much longer.

So Fräulein Marta, as she was called, who had also helped to attend upon her lady since they discovered her, went into her room, and, in the most cautious manner, made Dorina understand that her father was dead. This blow was so severe that she became almost insensible, and for several days they feared a return of her mental malady. But her strong religious principles, and habits of perfect resignation to the will of God, began to assert their influence on her well-trained mind, and soon a look of peace was visible on her still lovely face. They saw it in her sleep as well as in her half-waking, half-conscious state, and old Fräulein Marta congratulated herself on having told the truth; and she determined to tell Dorina everything, as soon as she had regained a little more strength.

And so, little by little, the poor heiress heard all that had occurred. The last piece of news--the actual marriage of her betrothed to Cunigunda--was deferred till the very last; and Fräulein Marta contrived, in spite of the agony of fear, to disclose this saddest news of all in a most judicious manner possible. She appealed to Dorina’s high sense of religion; and hope of happiness in the next world; and, after a few days’ agony and disappointment, Dorina was able to bear even this most crushing blow. But her greatest anxiety now was to extract a solemn promise from her two faithful attendants that they would never reveal to anyone that she was still alive. Her wish on this point was so ardently expressed that they saw it could not be refused without danger of again retarding her recovery.