"No."
He was about to leave when the lips parted again, and this time she spoke—
"He is coming, coming. Hush! that is his step!"
The dark eyes were ablaze with expectation: the pale cheek aglow with hope. I bent down over the bed, for her voice was very low.
"He is coming, I know it. Listen! Oh, husband, come quicker, quicker!"
Alas! poor saint, the step you listen for has gone before, and is already at the gate of heaven.
"He is here! Oh, husband, husband, you have come for me!"
A moment she sat up with arms outstretched, and glory in her face; then fell back, and the arms that caught her were the arms of God.
After the first pang of bereavement had spent itself, Uncle Loveday got me to bed, and there at last I slept. The very bewilderment of so much sorrow enforced sleep, and sleep was needed: so that, worn out with watching and excitement, I had not so much as a dream to trouble me. It was ten o'clock in the morning when I awoke, and saw my uncle sitting beside the bed. Another sun was bright in the heavens outside: the whole world looked so calm and happy that my first impulse was to leap up and run, as was my custom, to mother's room. Then my eyes fell on Uncle Loveday, and the whole dreadful truth came surging into my awakened brain. I sank back with a low moan upon the pillow.
Uncle Loveday, who had been watching me, stepped to the bed and took my hand.