"Are you in the dark, girls?" she asked, wringing her hands, when she had put down her lamp. "What an awful Providence!" She looked with a painful anxiety at Veronica.
"It is all Providence, Temperance, whether we are alive or dead," I said. "Let us let Providence alone."
"What did I ever leave her for? She wasn't fit to take care of herself. Why, Cassandra Morgeson, you haven't got off all your things yet. And what's this sticking out of your bosom?"
"It is her handkerchief." I kissed it, and now Verry began to weep over it, begging me for it. I gave it up to her.
"It will kill your father."
I had not thought of him.
"It's most nine o'clock. Sofrony Beals is here; she lays out beautifully."
"No, no; don't let anybody touch her!" shrieked Verry.
"No, they shan't. Come into the kitchen; you must have something to eat."
I was faint from the want of food, and when Temperance prepared us something I ate heartily. Veronica drank a little milk, but would taste nothing. Aunt Merce, who had been out to tea, Temperance said, came into the kitchen.