Christian life -- Juvenile fiction; Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction; Temperance -- Juvenile fiction
She stood a moment spellbound, looking down on the little peaceful
face, with its lingering smile, and then she went round the crib and
knelt down by the lowered side and softly kissed Harry's forehead and
soft golden hair.
She had not seen Jerry's dead face nor kissed him for good-bye, and
she knelt beside Harry and wept for them both.
She had completely forgotten Pattie, but after a while, as she wiped
away her tears and listened to Jim's story of the child's illness,
she became conscious that there was another man in the room, and that
Pattie and he were conversing in low tones by the window. She glanced
round for Harry's aunt, but there was no one else there; only sundry
sounds of stirring about in an adjoining room suggested that she was
not far off, but was not inclined to see company. So with one more
long look, one more kiss on the fair, still face, Denys and Pattie at
last took their leave, and set out for Mrs. Richardson's.
As they left the street, Pattie looked up in Denys's face with
crimsoning cheeks.
"Miss Denys," she said shyly, "that was my Tom that was talking to me.
He was there taking a photo of the little dead boy, for he loved him,
Miss, and--and--him and me, we've made it up, Miss Denys! We've always
loved each other all along."
* * * * *
The visit to Mrs. Richardson was over, and Denys and Pattie were once
more on their homeward way, hurrying along the crowded streets and
threading their way in and out of the bustling crowds, with no thought
in their minds but of an accomplished task and a great anxiety not to
lose their train.
They took little heed of the passers-by, but their eyes were both
attracted at the same moment by a very tall, fine-looking young fellow
who was coming towards them with a big, bouncing baby swung high upon
his shoulder; even at a good distance they made a conspicuous couple
as they came down the street.
"There's Jim Adams," said Denys and Pattie in the same breath.
Jim was walking very slowly, occasionally glancing down at the ground,
but the people about him were too many to reveal at what he looked.
Whether he caught sight of Denys and Pattie, and could not face
speaking to them, or whether he never even saw them, Denys could not
tell, but as they neared him, he stopped suddenly and looked into a
shop window, showing the baby something that made it shout and crow
with delight; but in one instant Denys forgot everything else in the
world, but the strangeness of another sight that met her eyes.
She stood stock still in the centre of the pavement, gazing at a
figure that was coming towards her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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