"No, darling," whispered Molly, "when you were strong and I was weak you used to comfort me. I am the strong one now, and you shall not escape me so!"
And so it was. Her feeble arms had suddenly become strong. They slid, the one beneath Hetty's shoulder, the other across and below her bosom, and straining, not to be denied, they forced her round. Wide-eyed still, Hetty gazed up into eyes dark in the moonlight, but conquering her, piercing through all secrets. Her own brimmed suddenly with tears and she lay quiet, her soul naked beneath Molly's soul.
"Ay, let them come—let them come while I hold you!"
While Hetty lay, neither winking nor moving, the big drops
overbrimmed at the corners of each eye and trickled on the pillow.
As one fell, another gathered. Silent, unchecked, they flowed, and
Molly bent and watched them flowing.
"A little while—a little while!" moaned Hetty.
"I will hold you so for ever."
"No—yet a little while, though you know not what you are holding."
"Were it a thousand times worse than I think, I am holding my sister."
"To-morrow—"
"We will bear it together." Molly smiled, but very faintly. "You forget that I shall never marry—that I shall always need you to care for. All my life till now you have protected me: now I shall pay back what I owe."