"Eh, Laddie, here I be."
And then the nurse came nearer to reason with the madman.
"There is some mistake," she said; "this is quite a poor old woman."
And then he got up and looked at her, she said afterwards, "like my lord duke, as proud as anything."
"Yes," he said, "and she is my mother. I will make arrangements at once for her removal to my house if she can bear it."
Ah! that was the question, and it wanted little examination or experience to tell that the old woman was past moving. The nurse, bewildered and still incredulous, persuaded him not to attempt it; and, instead, her bed was moved into a small ward off the large one, where she could be left alone.
Love is stronger than death; many waters cannot drown it. Yes, but it cannot turn back those cold waters of death, when the soul has once entered them; and so Dr. Carter found that with all his love and with all his skill, he could only smooth, and that but a very little, the steep, stony road down into Jordan.
He got a nurse to attend specially upon her, but he would not leave her; and the nurse said it was not much good her being there, for he smoothed her pillows, and raised her head, and damped her lips, and fanned her with untiring patience and tenderness. Once when he had his arm under her head, raising it, she opened her eyes wide and looked at him.
"Ah, Laddie," she said, "I'm a bit tired with my journey. It's a longish way from Sunnybrook."
"Did you come from there?"