The intense calm and silence of the father’s beautiful, mute resignation finally silenced him.
Rigid before the fire, as if it were a charmed flame that was turning him old, he sat, with the dark lines deepening in his face; its stare becoming more and more haggard; its surface turning whiter and whiter, as if it were being overspread with ashes—the very texture and color of his hair appearing to change.
A sunbeam shot in and faltered over the face of the girl asleep. This fair, white bride, robed in her wedding gown.
Elliott got up and went to her side. He turned away again, and dropped upon the broad divan, utterly helpless, hopeless. Here he lay face downward, with his elbows on the cushions and his hands clutching his chin, his sad eyes staring steadily. He lay for hours gazing upon her face, moving not from the first position he had assumed. He took no heed of time—time and he were separate that day. He was neither hungry nor thirsty—only sick at the heart which lay like lead in him.
By and by a long procession was seen moving from the house. Six bearers deposited their burden. Dorothy’s grave had been made beside her mother’s in the family burying ground, at the back of the garden.
CHAPTER XX.
The preliminary inquiry into the case of Ephriam Cooley resulted in his being held over to the next meeting of the Grand Jury, which was yet some months away.
Mr. Carr was not left alone in his grief. Elliott Harding gave up residence at his uncle’s home and went to live with and care for him.
Among the neighboring people, there prevailed a respect for these two in their distress which was full of gentleness and delicacy. Men kept apart when they were seen walking with slow steps on the street, or stood in knots talking compassionately among themselves.
At length the day came when the Grand Jury was in session. The absence of witnesses, upon which the defense had relied to argue the innocence of the accused, caused the prisoner’s counsel no little uneasiness as the hour for the opening of the court drew near. As he paced restlessly to and fro in the reserved space before the bench, there was a look of anxiety on his countenance and a frown upon his brow.