She pushed a chair close to the low bed and sat down; he took her hand and held it between his flushed hot hands. “God bless you forever, and ever, my darling wife!”
“That’s too solemn,” said Sue in an awed voice; “don’t say such things; I shall believe that you are going to die, if you do. Do go to sleep, that’s a good boy.”
He laid his finger on his wrist keeping it there a full minute.
“Are you stronger?” she asked eagerly. “Father will not say when I ask him and Dr. Towne only looked at me.”
He lifted her hand to his lips and smiled.
“Now sing.”
“Any thing. Every thing. ‘Jesus, lover of my soul.’ I always liked that.”
The clear, strong voice trembled nervously over the first words; she was afraid, but she did not know what she was afraid of; his eyelids drooped, he kept tight hold of her hand.
She sang the hymn through and then asked what he would like next.