A gentleman, who seemed to be her husband, was standing before her, attempting to persuade her to get up. He did this, however, as Rollo thought, in rather a rough and heartless manner.
"O, get up! get up!" said he. "You never will be well if you lie here. Come, go with me and get some dinner."
The lady said, in a mournful tone, that she could not get up, and that she had no appetite for dinner.
"Well," said her husband, "_I_ am going."
"I wish you could tell me something about Hilbert," said the lady. "I feel very anxious about him. I am afraid that he will get into some trouble. He is so careless."
"O, no," said her husband. "Don't disturb yourself about him. He's safe enough somewhere, I dare say."
Rollo immediately conceived the idea of performing for this lady the kind service which Maria had so successfully performed for him. So, without speaking to her at all, he went immediately down into the cabin again, and thence followed the long passages which led to the dining saloon, until he came to the door of it. He looked in, and saw that the people were all seated at the table, eating their dinners. He went to one of the waiters, and asked him if he would bring him a bowl of chicken broth, to carry to a lady who was sick.
The waiter said that he would do so, and immediately went to get the broth. When he came back with it, he said to Rollo,--
"You had better let me take it to the lady."
"No," said Rollo, "I can take it myself. I know exactly where she is."
So Rollo took the bowl, and began to carry it along. He did this without much difficulty, for it was not by any means full. Bowls of broth intended to be carried about ship at sea are never entirely full.
When, finally, he came to the place where the lady was lying on the settee, he stood there a moment holding the bowl in his hand, without speaking, as he thought the lady was asleep; for her eyes were shut. In a moment, however, she opened her eyes. Rollo then said to her,--
"Would not you like a bowl of broth, lady? I have brought some for you."
The lady gazed at Rollo a moment with a sort of bewildered look, and then, raising herself up upon the settee, she took the broth, and began to eat it with the spoon. At first, she seemed to take it cautiously and with doubt; but presently, finding that she liked it, she took spoonful after spoonful with evident pleasure. Rollo was extremely delighted at the success of his experiment. The lady said nothing to him all the time, though she looked up at him repeatedly with a very earnest gaze while she was taking the broth. At length she finished it, and then gave Rollo back the bowl, saying, as she did it,--