He began to feel all the injury he
had done, and a thousand circumstances perpetually reminded him of
it. The son of Jacques, the poor man whose widow he had assisted, had
broken his leg, and it remained quite distorted. Monsieur de Marne
told his mother that she ought to have had it set. "That would have
been easy," she replied, "when there was an hospital here; but
now"------and she stopped.
'He saw that the country people were neglecting to cultivate their
gardens, which he knew had been profitable to them, and inquired the
reason. "Oh," said they, "we used to sell our vegetables to the
hospital; but now"------and they stopped; and Monsieur de Marne saw
that every one's mind was filled with a subject which it would be
impossible for him ever to forget. He was about to quit the country,
and even to sell his estate, when an epidemical disease broke out in
the next village. It was prevalent there almost every year; and it
was for that reason especially that the hospital had been originally
founded by a man of wealth, who, having been attacked by the disease,
made a vow that, if he recovered, he would found an hospital, into
which all the poor of the village, and of a certain distance round
it, should be received and taken care of.
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