Sitting down by his side the student felt the strange oppression on his chest continue. He went out and found that the child had completely revived. It had still the appearance of being agonized in its breathing, but its eyes were bright, and it laughed.
“It will be all right soon,” said his friend’s sister.
“Tell me what was the matter with your brother.”
When he had heard about his malady he returned to the room. After he had sat there for some time he felt more and more the sorrow for the loss of his friend, and the need of his counsel. This aimless, inert form, this lifeless mass, was that which he had come to seek—was the being with whom he had longed to confer.
He bent over him. “Could I but snatch him back into life; could I but have one hour’s intercourse with him. If I had been with him I might have borne some of the pain of his complaint before he was overpowered with it.” He touched the lifeless hands, they were cold and damp. He gazed into the expressionless face. He seemed to feel the pain of the inner struggle his friend had waged against the disease. The quiet of that still chamber was gone for him; in his own person he felt the pangs of the struggle for life. A mist came over his eyes, and he sank down holding his friend’s hands. Suddenly he heard a voice. He rose and looked about him. The sound came faintly from the lips of his friend.
“I have been very ill,” were the words he caught. “I am so glad you have come; I was thinking of you in my worst moments. You have come just as I am getting better.”
Indeed the features were regaining expression, the hands were warm. It was his living friend again.
After a few hours he was sufficiently recovered to hear about all that had happened. They talked together long and earnestly. His friend was convinced.
“Let us go to your companion,” he said.
They went into the town together. They found that the clerk had gone to the magistrates’ hall where a trial was being held. They did not see the clerk at first, so they listened to the proceedings. A woman was brought in who had been kept in prison for some days, accused of concealing her child. The case was clearly proved. The woman received her sentence with an appearance of apathy.