“Here lies Fred,
Who was alive and is dead.
Had it been his father,
I had much rather;
Had it been his sister,
No one would have missed her;
Had it been his brother,
Still better than another:
But since ’tis only Fred,
Who was alive and is dead,
Why, there’s no more to be said.”
Note 2. Ephraim does the Princess Caroline an injustice. She was a lily among the thorns.
Note 3. How far such a personation is consistent with truth and righteousness may be reasonably questioned. But very few persons would have thought of raising the question in 1745.
Chapter Thirteen.
Stepping Northwards.
“It were to be wished the flaws were fewer
In the earthen vessels holding treasure
Which lies as safe in a golden ewer:
But the main thing is, does it hold good measure?”
Browning.
I turned back to the table, and dropping the letter on it, I laid my head down upon my arms and wept bitterly. He who wrote it had done with the world and the world’s things for ever. Words such as these were not of earth. They had come from the other side of the world-storm and the life’s fever. And he was nearly there.
I wondered how much Flora understood. Did she guess anything of that unwhispered secret which he promised to tell her in the courts of Heaven? Had she ever given to Duncan Keith what he had given her?