“Nay,” she returned, “it was no fault o' thine. She niwer had a thowt o'
that. She had a patient way wi' her, had Jinny, an' she bore her trouble
better than them as hopes. She didna ax nor hope neyther; an' when theer
coom fresh hurt to her she wur ready an' waiting knowin' as it moight
comn ony day. Happen th' Lord knows what life wur give her fur--I
dunnot, but it's ower now--an' happen she knows hersen'. I hurried here
to-neet,” she added, battling with a sob, “as soon as I heerd as she was
missin', th' truth struck to my heart, an' I thowt as I should be here
first, but I wasna I ha' not gotten no more to say.”
They went back to the shanty, and with her own hands she did for the
poor clay the last service it would need, Langley and his companion
waiting the while outside. When her task was at an end she came to them,
and this time it was Langley who addressed himself to her. “May I go
in?” he asked.
She bent her head in assent, and without speaking he left them and
entered the shanty alone. The moonlight, streaming in as before, fell
upon the closed eyes, and hands folded in the old, old fashion upon the
fustian jacket: the low whisper of the pines crept downward like a sigh.
Kneeling beside the pallet, the young man bent his head and touched
the pale forehead with reverent lips. “God bless you for your love and
faith,” he said, “and give you rest!”
And when he rose a few minutes later, and saw that the little dead
flower he had worn had dropped from its place and lay upon the pulseless
breast, he did not move it, but turned away and left it resting; there.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of “Seth”, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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