Letter,
Sister Agatha to Miss Willhelmina MurrayLETTER, SISTER AGATHA, HOSPITAL
OF ST. JOSEPH AND STE. MARY BUDA-PESTH, TO MISS WILLHELMINA MURRAY 12 August, "Dear
Madam. "I write by desire of Mr. Jonathan Harker, who is himself not
strong enough to write, though progressing well, thanks to God and St. Joseph
and Ste. Mary. He has been under our care for nearly six weeks, suffering from
a violent brain fever. He wishes me to convey his love, and to say that by this
post I write for him to Mr. Peter Hawkins, Exeter, to say, with his dutiful respects,
that he is sorry for his delay, and that all of his work is completed. He will
require some few weeks' rest in our sanatorium in the hills, but will then return.
He wishes me to say that he has not sufficient money with him, and that he would
like to pay for his staying here, so that others who need shall not be wanting
for help. "Believe me, "Yours, with sympathy and all blessings.
Sister Agatha "P.S.--My patient being asleep, I open this to let you
know something more. He has told me all about you, and that you are shortly to
be his wife. All blessings to you both! He has had some fearful shock, so says
our doctor, and in his delirium his ravings have been dreadful, of wolves and
poison and blood, of ghosts and demons, and I fear to say of what. Be careful
of him always that there may be nothing to excite him of this kind for a long
time to come. The traces of such an illness as his do not lightly die away. We
should have written long ago, but we knew nothing of his friends, and there was
nothing on him, nothing that anyone could understand. He came in the train from
Klausenburg, and the guard was told by the station master there that he rushed
into the station shouting for a ticket for home. Seeing from his violent demeanour
that he was English, they gave him a ticket for the furthest station on the way
thither that the train reached. "Be assured that he is well cared for.
He has won all hearts by his sweetness and gentleness. He is truly getting on
well, and I have no doubt will in a few weeks be all himself. But be careful of
him for safety's sake. There are, I pray God and St. Joseph and Ste. Mary, many,
many, happy years for you both." |
