"Oh,pa is a great deal better in his health,and has picked up even in the last few days,so that he is able to walk round with crutches,"said the elder sister."The air here seems to invigorate him wonderfully.""And you know,Esther,"said the younger,"I think he begins to take more notice of things,especially when he is out-of-doors.He looks around on the scenery,and his eye brightens,as if he knew all about it;and sometimes he knits his brows,and looks down so,as if he was trying to remember.""You know,I suppose,"exclaimed Esther,"that since his seizure his memory has been a blank--that is,three or four years of his life seem to have been dropped out of his recollection.""It might be a mercy sometimes,Senora,"said Don Caesar,with a grave sigh,as he looked at the delicate features before him,which recalled the face of the absent Mamie.
"That's not very complimentary,"said the younger girl,laughingly;"for pa didn't recognize us,and only remembered us as little girls.""Vashti!"interrupted Esther,rebukingly;then,turning to Don Caesar,she added,"My sister,Vashti,means that father remembers more what happened before he came to California,when we were quite young,than he does of the interval that elapsed.Dr.Duchesne says it's a singular case.He thinks that,with his present progress,he will recover the perfect use of his limbs;though his memory may never come back again.""Unless--You forget what the doctor told us this morning,"interrupted Vashti again,briskly.
"I was going to say it,"said Esther,a little curtly."UNLESS he has another stroke.Then he will either die or recover his mind entirely."Don Caesar glanced at the bright faces,a trifle heightened in color by their eager recital and the slight rivalry of narration,and looked grave.He was a little shocked at a certain lack of sympathy and tenderness towards their unhappy parent.They seemed to him not only to have caught that dry,curious toleration of helplessness which characterizes even relationship in its attendance upon chronic suffering and weakness,but to have acquired an unconscious habit of turning it to account.In his present sensitive condition,he even fancied that they flirted mildly over their parent's infirmity.