Pain and anger together overpowered her.

She stood up for a moment, trying to speak, and then suddenly fell back, fainting.
Lucia sprang from her knees.

Was her mother dead?
It was possible, she knew.

Had they parted for ever in anger?
But the idea, from its very horror, did not affect her as a lighter fear might have done.

She brought remedies, and called Claudine to help her, in a kind of calm.
They tried all they could think of, and at last there came some feeble return of life.