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Show 141 Chapter 21 They told me later that a full week passed before I knew anyone around me, but I remember nothing of that time. The nuns wrapped me in blankets and took turns staying with me, forcing broth between my lips and laying cool cloths on my swollen throat. All of them took care of me - remarkably, they were all alive except for Sister Clothilde who had died of a fever the winter before. Then one morning my eyes opened and I saw a thin ray of sun lighting a wooden crucifix on a wall above me. I stared at that crmcifix for a long while wondering what it was, and where I was. Slowly, painfully, I turned my head and beheld the tiny, wrinkled face of Sister Perpetua. She was sitting on a low stool next to me, dozing. Little by little remembrance came back, and I reached out to touch her hand. She smiled even before she awakened. "Albert," she said, "I was dreaming that you were a little boy again, and I was telling you the story about the queen and the troll, do you recall?" I nodded. "Can you talk, Albert?" I shook my head. "Never mind. At least you are back with us and you are alive. For many days we feared that you would not live. You tossed and tossed with some terrible malady, but even in your fever you did not cry out. |