Now and then they exchanged a word or two, and Katie put the cup to her grandmother’s lips, and the night wore on. Whether their grandfather slept or not they could not tell, but he made no movement that could disturb her, and he still held her hand, to keep her from “slipping away,” as she had said.
Once the mother came in and looked, but she only said she was sleeping quietly, and they made her lie down again. Toward morning Katie brought a quilt and a pillow, and Davie lay down on the floor beside the bed, and Katie prayed and waited for the dawn.
Chapter Twenty Four.
Poor Old Squire.
Betsey Holt had not found the old squire so low as she expected to find him when she went to his house after leaving Mr Fleming’s, and seeing him comfortable, and apparently no weaker than she had seen him before, she hesitated as to what she ought to do.
“There will be nights when you will need me more cousin,” said she, “and I think—”
But Elizabeth’s face made her pause.
“Dear cousin, stay with me to-night. No, I do not think he is going to die to-night, though Dr Wainwright thought it could not be long. But do stay with me, cousin. I seem to be alone and good for nothing.”