"I know that I am about to die," she said in a clear voice, "and I am happy that I have lived in consciousness and can die in consciousness."
She gave her journal to Gunther and told him that the wish she had there expressed, in relation to her place of burial, need not be regarded; that the uncle knew which had been her favorite spot, and that she wished to be buried there, with nothing to mark her grave.
Gunther had, before this, said that he had held many a dying hand in his--he had never sat by a death-bed like that of Irma's.
CHAPTER XVII.
"I knew it! I felt it must come!" cried Walpurga when Franz brought the news of Irma's illness. "I knew she'd never come back!" she repeated again and again, weeping, wringing her hands, and praying by turns.
"That won't help any," said Hansei, laying his hand on her shoulder. "Get up; you're not like this at other times. Come, may be it isn't so bad after all; and even if it should be, this is no time to cry and weep; we must do all that can be done."
"What can I do? What shall I do?" said Walpurga, turning her tearful face to Hansei.
He helped her up and said:
"Franz says there's a doctor up there, who has a medicine chest with him. And now let's eat something and then go up to her."
"Oh dear Lord, I can't walk three steps; I feel as if my limbs were broken."