And Alden Lytton and Emma Cavendish were made one in law, as they had long been in mind and heart.
Chapter XL.
AFTER THE HOLY WEDDING.
The bride rose from her knee
And she kissed the lips of her mother dead
Or ever she kissed me.
—E. B. Browning.
The benediction was scarcely spoken before the fair bride left her bridegroom's side and moved softly and swiftly to the side of the easy-chair, where the form of her ancestress lay reclining.
All eyes followed her strange action, as she knelt beside the chair and took the wasted hand of its occupant in her own. And some saw what Emma had been the first to discover—that the happy spirit of the aged lady was even then departing.
She spoke no word more, but slowly raising her hand she laid it gently, as in silent blessing, on the bowed head of her young descendant, and so, with a radiant smile, passed away heavenward.
"She's dropped asleep, my dear," said honest, stupid John Lytton, bending over to look at the closed eyes and peaceful face.