It was of such
very brief duration.
They tried to tempt her with the prospect of being repatriated.
Strenuously she opposed the notion, on grounds of health. She argued
that she had come to the South at the bidding of her English
doctor--which was true enough, that grave personage having been urgently
pressed by the family to make a suggestion; a return to England, she
declared, would be the death of her. If any attempt were made to
interfere with her liberty in this manner, she would appeal to the
local Court for protection.
Then the project of sending her to an Inebriates' Home on the mainland
was mooted. A sprightly young clergyman, not long resident on Nepenthe,
volunteered for the delicate task of persuading the lady to take this
step; it would be given out that she was merely undergoing a "rest
cure." The sprightly young clergyman started on his mission full of
bright expectations. He returned anon, looking prematurely aged. Nobody
could get a word out of him at first; he seemed top have become
afflicted with a partial paralysis of the tongue.
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