He turned his dying eyes upon the weeping figure before him and said tenderly:
"You will love to remember that you complied with the request of one who even in his dying hour, mourns over his own blindness, folly and guilt. Tell our boy to take your motto for his own and learn to render 'good for evil.'"
These were his last words, though he retained his consciousness for an hour, and when repeatedly asked by Gertrude:
"Is Christ precious? Does he give you peace?" there was a pressure of her hand.
At a quarter before ten, the same night she arrived, the end came; the sick man quietly breathing fainter and fainter, like an infant going to rest.
Standing there, gazing on those wan features, Gertrude's heart arose in gratitude to God, that out of death, eternal life had begun in the soul of the penitent believer; and she could almost hear the words of the Saviour, "'This day thou shalt be with me in paradise.'"