CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

JOSEPH arrived in due course, and with him, to Theo's dismay, he brought his father and brother William Algernon. They all left Washington at once, Aaron to go on necessary journeys which ranged from Philadelphia to Providence, while the Alston family repaired to Ballston Spa to drink the waters.

In this atmosphere of anxious health-seeking, Theodosia found her own health deteriorating again. Aaron wrote worried letters of advice, Joseph consulted the resident physicians and personally supervised her visits to the springs, where she drank gallons of the salty, sulphurous liquid.

Eleanore watched these proceedings sympathetically. When one is unhappy and bored, one is apt to be sick, and who could help being unhappy and bored in the company of those three stupid men? Particularly now that the fine lover was gone; and le père too, with his gaiety and good-humor. No wonder Madame was like a small snuffed candle: there was nc fire around to kindle her. The Alstons were invariably solemn and repressive. En masse they were enough to make anyone sick.

Theodosia gradually improved. Time dimmed her first desperate longing for Meme. She once more accepted the pattern of her life and tried to make the best of it. But she was a trifle less compliant and had more trouble hiding her impatience.

The Alstons went back to South Carolina by land, and the long uncomfortable trip produced constant friction. Day after day the five of them were shut into the heavy family coach, while it rocked and rumbled southward. Colonel Alston and William Algernon sat with their backs to the horses. Joseph, Theo, and the fretful baby rode on the opposite seat. Little Gampy at a year and a half was as active and restless as arc other children of that age, and Theo exhausted herself trying to quiet him. Moreover, he was teething and his resentful wailing was difficult to bear. Frequent drizzles made it impossible to give him to Eleanore, who rode behind in the open spring wagon, so the four adults in the coach endured the child according to their various natures. The Colonel and William Algernon talked horse-racing when they could hear each other above the din; when they could not, they said nothing, but their long faces were set in heavy disapproval. Joseph occasionally dandled his son irritably until his scanty patience was exhausted. Then he dumped him back onto Theo, who soothed and rocked him, racking her brain for new stories and songs with which to quiet him.

From Lumberton, South Carolina, she wrote to Aaron on October twenty-ninth: 'Thank Heaven, my dear father, I am at Lumberton, and within a few days of rest. 1 am sick, fatigued, out of patience, and on the very brink of being out of temper....We travel in company with the two Alstons.

Pray teach me how to write two A's without producing something like an ASS.'