Dr. Carrington laid his hands gently on her shoulders, and looked into her eyes.
“It is news of your father,” he said, “from Lady Maxwell.”
He paused, and the steady gleam of his eyes strengthened and quieted her, then he went on deliberately, “The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken it.”
He paused as if for an answer, but no answer came; Isabel was staring white-faced with parted lips into those strong blue eyes of his: and he finished:
“Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
A WINDING-UP
The curtained windows on the ground-floor of the Dower House shone red from within as Isabel and Dr. Carrington, with three or four servants behind, rode round the curving drive in front late on the Monday evening. A face peeped from Mrs. Carroll’s window as the horse’s hoofs sounded on the gravel, and by the time that Isabel, pale, wet, and worn-out with her seventy miles’ ride, was dismounted, Mistress Margaret herself was at the door, with Anthony’s face at her shoulder, and Mrs. Carroll looking over the banisters.
Isabel was not allowed to see her father’s body that night, but after she was in bed, Lady Maxwell herself, who had been sent for when he lay dying, came down from the Hall, and told her what there was to tell; while Mistress Margaret and Anthony entertained Dr. Carrington below.
“Dear child,” said the old lady, leaning with her elbow on the bed, and holding the girl’s hand tenderly as she talked, “it was all over in an hour or two. It was the heart, you know. Mrs. Carroll sent for me suddenly, on Saturday morning; and by the time I reached him he could not speak. They had carried him upstairs from his study, where they had found him; and laid him down on his bed, and—yes, yes—he was in pain, but he was conscious, and he was praying I think; his lips moved. And I knelt down by the bed and prayed aloud; he only spoke twice; and, my dear, it was your name the first time, and the name of His Saviour the second time. He looked at me, and I could see he was trying to speak; and then on a sudden he spoke ‘Isabel.’ And I think he was asking me to take care of you. And I nodded and said that I would do what I could, and he seemed satisfied and shut his eyes again. And then presently Mr. Bodder began a prayer—he had come in a moment before; they could not find him at first—and then, and then your dear father moved a little and raised his hand, and the minister stayed; and he was looking up as if he saw something; and then he said once, ‘Jesus’ clear and loud; and, and—that was all, dear child.”