A plunge, a rapid descent, a terrific shock, and then the end.
She looked up to the silent stars. They seemed to look down pityingly on her. Mentally her gaze wandered beyond the stars, to the plains of peace, to the White Throne of Mercy and Justice, and she put up a prayer for forgiveness.
Be still, wild heart! cease, oh, throbbing brain! death is merciful.
She took a step forward—she closed her eyes—she threw up her arms; and, bending her body, she was about to take the fatal leap, when a voice reached her.
Not of the wind this time, but a human voice, that cried for help, that told of pain.
She went down on her knees. She peered over the broken verandah into the darkness. She could see nothing. The voice had ceased, and there was silence again, save that the “ivy rustled and the wind moaned.”
FOOTNOTE:
[5] When the Hindoos wish to express a thorough loathing and contempt for anything, they spit upon the ground, and make a peculiar movement with the lips. During the mutiny, and for long afterwards, it was common for the native servants in the European houses, when ordered to do anything, to spit upon the ground when they thought their masters were not looking. The language put into the mouth of Wanna, and the ferocity depicted, are by no means an exaggeration. In fact, words would almost fail to accurately express the inhuman hatred for the English, which the natives—men and women—took every opportunity of displaying during the revolt.