He did not reply, and, with a frightened expression, she glided into the chamber of death, calling piteously on the sleeper to come back and shield her. Beulah would have followed, but the doctor detained her.
"Not yet, child. Not yet."
As if unconscious of the act, he passed his arm around her shoulders, and drew her close to him. She looked up in astonishment, but his eyes were fixed on the kneeling figure in the room opposite, and she saw that, just then, he was thinking of anything else than her presence.
"Are you going home now, sir?"
"Yes; but you must stay with that poor girl yonder. Can't you prevail on her to come and spend a few days with you?"
"I rather think not," answered Beulah, resolved not to try.
"You look pale, my child. Watching is not good for you. It is a long time since you have seen death. Strange that people will not see it as it is. Passing strange."
"What do you mean?" said she, striving to interpret the smile that wreathed his lips.
"You will not believe if I tell you. 'Life is but the germ of Death, and Death the development of a higher Life.'"
"Higher in the sense of heavenly immortality?"