"I'll send Seth," said Gret; "and while he is gone we must get your mother ready for the grave."
Gret went out, and soon came back with the news that Seth was on his way to Peter McAnay's cabin.
Lizzī was more composed, and assisted Gret in preparing the body for burial.
It was near daybreak when Peter reached his home. Gret met him at the door. Levi, Matthi, and Cassi rose to receive him. They had been sitting in the room where their mother died. Blind Benner lay asleep on a bench, and Hunch was crouching in a corner. Lizzī was with the dead. She heard her father's voice in response to the greeting of her brothers, but did not move from her knees.
Her father's step on the stairs told of his approach. She bowed her head lower and clasped her hands. Her posture was one of utter dejection. Her father stood over her. She did not move. He spoke to her. She did not reply.
He glanced at the bed, and saw how tastefully she had dressed her mother for the grave. He could see through the mist in his eyes that the dress was not stiff in its folds, but gracefully draped the rigid form. He was touched by the natural arrangement of the snow-white hair.
"Yer hev drest yer mother pretty, Lizzī; she's sleepin' nateral."
This broke Lizzī down completely, and she fell forward, with her face between her father's boots and her arms outstretched.
"Oh, father, forgive me for bein' so bad! I killed mother. I killed her by not tellin'."
When Lizzī began to speak, Levi closed the stair door. The noise he made, though not loud, was sufficient to wake Blind Benner. By Levi's direction, Hunch led the blind man to his home.