17. He raised his head, and glanced from the fluttering signal to his idle bat, that lay, with slate and book, and other boyish property, upon a table in the room. And then he laid him down softly once more, and asked if the little girl were there, for he could not see her.
18. She stepped forward and pressed the passive hand that lay upon the coverlet. The two old friends and companions—for such they were, though they were man and child—held each other in a long embrace, and then the little scholar turned his face towards the wall, and fell asleep.
19. The poor schoolmaster sat in the same place, holding the small, cold hand in his, and chafing it. It was but the hand of a dead child. He felt that; and yet he chafed it still, and could not lay it down.
[231] A-chievedˊ, performed, completed, done.
[232] Clevˊ-er, skilful, dexterous, able.
[233] Con-tem-plate, consider closely.
[234] Latˊ-tice, a window blind or screen made by strips and bars crossing each other and forming open spaces like net work.
XXVI.—GOD, THE TRUE SOURCE OF CONSOLATION.
MOORE.