“I see nothing, only the approach of night.”
“But you hear something. Don’t you hear the spirits singing their death march over Oluski’s grave? He was my father—I hear it. It is a summons. It is for me. I must go.”
“Go? Where?”
“Far away. No; it is of no use clasping me to your heart. It is not Sansuta’s body that will leave you—it is her spirit. In the happy hunting grounds I shall meet with him—”
A few moments after she became tranquil; but the lucid interval succeeded, and hot tears coursed down her hollow cheeks.
Again her mind wandered, and for two or three hours, refusing to enter the house, she sate muttering to herself the same fancies.
Alice could but sit beside her and listen. Now and then she sought to soothe her, but in vain.
By and bye Sansuta’s voice grew faint. She seemed to lean heavier on the arm of her pale-faced friend, and the lustre of her eye gradually became dimmer.
The change was alarming, and Alice would have risen and called for help, but an imploring glance from Sansuta prevented her.
“Don’t leave me,” she murmured gently.