"If he is taken from us, my faith in God will go. It is tyrannical cruelty to spare the girls, and take him!"
"Hush! Hush! My dearest!" And with tears in her eyes, Anstice leant her cheek against his. "I'm praying still. All things are possible with God. He loves him, and He loves us. We won't doubt His love."
A short time after they were both in Ruffie's room. The fever had raged in his tiny body, and now his temperature had dropped. He lay like a little waxen image, his beautiful eyes closed, and only the very slightest rise and fall of his chest told them that he was still breathing. The nurse was sitting by his side. She had been giving him from time to time a little drop of stimulant in a teaspoon. For days he had been unconscious. Justin sank on his knees beside the bed, and Anstice signed to the nurse to leave them.
"I will take your place," she said, and the nurse, who had been on duty for some hours, went.
To Anstice, it seemed as if angels were already hovering over Ruffie ready to waft his soul to the Home for little children. She almost felt as if she could wrestle in prayer no longer; and yet, as she looked at her husband kneeling there, and knew his agony of soul, she again pleaded that the precious life might be spared. Justin had taken one of the little wasted hands in his and pressed it to his lips. There was a quiver of eyelashes, and then the brown eyes gazed at him, and a slight quivering smile crossed the face.
"Daddy dear!"
The words were but a whisper; yet both Anstice and Justin caught them.
"It's his good-bye," said Justin with a choke in his voice, for the eyes had closed again, and Anstice put her hand gently over the little heart to see if it was still beating. Five minutes of breathless silence. They waited, both feeling they were in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and then the nurse stole in again. She stood at the foot of the bed, then softly opened the window as wide as possible.
"Don't bend over him. Give him as much air as possible."
Anstice at once took the hint, but Justin remained on his knees. Anstice saw his lips were moving, and she knew that he was praying. And then the nurse drew nearer.