"It will be so sad for Wyvis, when he comes home to-day," murmured Janetta, her lip trembling.
"He is coming to-day, is he? Early this morning? I will stay with you, if you like."
Janetta was glad of the offer, although it gave her an uneasy feeling that the end was nearer than she thought.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE LAST SCENE.
"She does not know you," Dr. Burroughs said, when, a few hours later, Wyvis bent over his mother's pillow and looked into her quiet, care-lined face.
"Will she never know me?" asked the young man in a tone of deep distress. "My poor mother! I must tell her how sorry I am for the pain that I have often given her."
"She may be conscious for a few minutes by-and-bye," the doctor said. "But consciousness will only show that the end is near."
There was a silence in the room. Mrs. Brand had now lain in a stupor for many hours. Wyvis had been greeted on his arrival with sad news indeed: his mother and wife were seriously ill, and the doctor acknowledged that he did not think Mrs. Brand likely to live for many hours.