She sang it after him, drawing a little closer, for her father was not often like this, until they came to the last verse—
"Hearts growing a-weary with heavier woe,
Now droop 'mid the darkness—go, comfort them, go!
Go bury thy sorrows, let others be blest:
Go give them the sunshine, tell Jesus the rest."
"Is my little girl too young to understand what that means?" he asked, stroking her hair.
"Yes, I do understand, papa," she answered thoughtfully.
"Your mother's sorrow is heavier than ours," he went on, "just because she was Carly's mother; and Racy is pining for his twin-brother, just because he was his twin. It is that which makes him so techy and troublesome. Will my Kathleen try to comfort them when I am gone?"
Instead of the promise he expected there came a rush of tears, so hot and bitter he was taken aback.
"What is the matter, my love?" he asked.
"The dreadful misery to think I let the wolf in!" she sobbed.
"We will bury all that," he answered. "It will not bring sunshine to mamma to see you crying. Think! what ought you to be to poor mamma?"
"Carly and Kathleen, too," she murmured. "But I can't undo it."