Family Pride; Or, Purified by SufferingHolmes, Mary Jane
General
Family Pride; Or, Purified by Suffering
Holmes, Mary Jane
American fiction; Dime novels
But the dull stupor which succeeded to that act swept all hope away, and
again Katy resumed her post, watching first her dying child, and then
the long hands of the clock which crept on so slowly, pointing to only
two when she thought it must be five. Would that hour never come, or
coming, would it find baby there? None could answer that last
question--they could only wait and pray, and as they waited thus the
warm September sun neared the western sky till its yellow beams came
stealing through the window and across the floor to where Katy sat
watching its onward progress and looking sometimes out upon the hills
where the purplish autumnal haze was lying just as she once loved to see
it; but she did not heed it now, or care how bright the day with the
flitting shadows dancing on the grass, the tall flowers growing by the
door and old Whitey standing by the gate, his head stretched toward the
house in a kind of dreamy, listening attitude, as if he, too, knew of
the great sorrow hastening on so fast. The others saw all this, and it
made their hearts ache more as they thought of the beautiful little
child, so much fairer than sky or day or flowers could be, going from
their midst when they wished so much to keep her. But Katy had only one
idea, and that was of the child growing very restless now and throwing
up its arms as if in pain. It is striking five, and with each stroke the
dying baby moans, while Katy strains her ear to catch another sound, the
sound of horses' hoofs hurrying up the road. The clergyman has come and
anon the inmates of the house gather around in silence, while he makes
ready to receive the child into Christ's flock, where it so soon will
really be.
Mrs. Lennox had questioned Helen about the name and Helen had answered:
"Katy knows, I presume. It does not matter," but no one had spoken
directly to Katy, who had scarcely given it a thought, caring more for
the rite she had deferred so long.
"He must hasten," she said to Morris, her eyes fixed upon the panting
child she had lifted to her own lap, and thus abjured the clergyman
failed to make the usual inquiry concerning the name he was to give.
Calm and white as a marble statue, Marian Hazelton glided to the back of
Katy's chair, pressing both her hands upon it, and leaning over Katy so
that her eyes too were fixed upon the little face, from which they never
turned but once, and that when the clergyman's voice was heard asking
for a name. There was an instant's silence, and Katy's lips began to
move, when one of Marian's hands was laid upon her head, while the other
took in its own the limp, while baby fingers, and Marian's voice was
very steady in its tone as it said: "Genevra."
"Yes, Genevra," Katy whispered, and then the solemn words were heard:
"Genevra, I baptize thee in the name of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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