– Mother! Mother, is that you? – The girl asked quietly. Her voice sounded harsh and breathy, but Lady Guise did not move: she was sound asleep. – Mother! – With all the strength left in her from the attack, Brigid repeated, and this time the tired woman slowly opened her eyes. – Mother! How glad I am that you are here! – Brigid whispered loudly, and tried to stretch out her hand to her mother.
– Lie still, my child, do not move! – said Lady Guise affectionately, hastily rising from her chair and approaching her daughter. She knelt at the headboard of the bed, not sparing the velvet skirt of her dress, and took her daughter's palm in her own. – 'We were frightened! You had a stroke, and there was nothing we could do! – She sobbed and gently stroked Brigid's face, pale and hot.
When Lady Guise heard that Brigid was taken ill, that she seemed to have had a fit of fever, she hurried to her, forgetting the King and Queen and breakfast. She had been cruel to her daughter, and had never found an affectionate word for her, but now that her daughter was on her deathbed, the maternal love that had been hiding deep in her soul engulfed her whole being. She spent the whole day in Brigid's room, never leaving her side, undressing her herself and changing her into her nightgown, wetting her forehead with wet cloths, and praying fervently. It was not until evening, when Brigid had ceased to toss and turn in bed, that Lady Guise allowed herself a little rest in the armchair by the fireplace, and as soon as she sat down she fell asleep. Like her husband, this woman was suffering every second from the loss of her beloved son, and the possible loss of her daughter made her exactly what a mother should be – loving and caring.
– Is the father very angry? – A faint smile appeared on Brigid's lips: she had never in her life seen her mother so… So close, so tender to her.
– He is not angry, my child! He is not angry at all! How can he be? We nearly lost you! – Lady Guise smiled broadly, and a tear of joy ran down her cheek: her daughter was alive! God had spared her!
– But he so wished me to go down and smile at the King…
– Oh, forget it! Your life is far more precious to us than all the kings of the world and all their treasuries! I know we have been hard on you, at times, too much… But we are your parents, and we love you. – These words came with some difficulty to Lady Guise, for it was the first time she had ever told Brigid of her motherly love.