The Life of Charlotte Brontë — Volume 2Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn
General
The Life of Charlotte Brontë — Volume 2
Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn
Brontë, Charlotte, 1816-1855; Novelists, English -- 19th century -- Biography
"Emily suffers no more from pain or weakness now. She never will suffer
more in this world. She is gone, after a hard short conflict. She died
on TUESDAY, the very day I wrote to you. I thought it very possible she
might be with us still for weeks; and a few hours afterwards, she was in
eternity. Yes; there is no Emily in time or on earth now. Yesterday we
put her poor, wasted, mortal frame quietly under the church pavement.
We are very calm at present. Why should we be otherwise? The anguish of
seeing her suffer is over; the spectacle of the pains of death is gone
by; the funeral day is past. We feel she is at peace. No need now to
tremble for the hard frost and the keen wind. Emily does not feel them.
She died in a time of promise. We saw her taken from life in its prime.
But it is God's will, and the place where she is gone is better than
that she has left.
"God has sustained me, in a way that I marvel at, through such agony
as I had not conceived. I now look at Anne, and wish she were well and
strong; but she is neither; nor is papa. Could you now come to us for
a few days? I would not ask you to stay long. Write and tell me if you
could come next week, and by what train. I would try to send a gig for
you to Keighley. You will, I trust, find us tranquil. Try to come. I
never so much needed the consolation of a friend's presence. Pleasure,
of course, there would be none for you in the visit, except what your
kind heart would teach you to find in doing good to others."
As the old, bereaved father and his two surviving children followed
the coffin to the grave, they were joined by Keeper, Emily's fierce,
faithful bull-dog. He walked alongside of the mourners, and into the
church, and stayed quietly there all the time that the burial service
was being read. When he came home, he lay down at Emily's chamber door,
and howled pitifully for many days. Anne Brontë drooped and sickened
more rapidly from that time; and so ended the year 1848.
CHAPTER III.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account