He started back--he and those who were with him. “The man is mad,” they
said.
They left me in peace. I grow excited as I write. My hand trembles. Let
me be calm.
She awoke that night. It was midnight, and all was still. She opened
her eyes suddenly, and looked full at me with an earnest and steadfast
stare. At last a long, deep-drawn sigh broke the stillness of that lone
chamber.
“Back again”--she murmured, in a scarce audible voice--“among men, and
to earth. O friends of the Realm of Light, must I be severed from your
lofty communion!”
As she spoke thus the anguish which I had felt at the grave was renewed.
“You have brought me back,” said she, mournfully.
“No,” I returned, sadly--“not I. It was not God’s will that you should
leave this life. He did not send death to you. You were sleeping, and I
brought you to this place.”
“I know all,” she murmured, closing her eyes. “I heard all while my
spirit was away. I know where you found me.”
“I am weary,” she said, after a silence. Her eyes closed again. But
this time the trance was broken. She slept with long, deep breathing,
interrupted by frequent sighs. I watched her through the long night.
At first fever came. Then it passed. Her sleep became calm, and she
slumbered like a weary child.
Early in the morning the superintendent came, followed by a dozen armed
men. He entered with a frown. I met him with my hand upraised to hush
him, and led him gently to the bedside.
“See,” I whispered--“but for me she would have been BURIED ALIVE!”
The man seemed frozen into dumbness. He stood ghastly white with horror,
thick drops started from his forehead, his teeth chattered, he staggered
away. He looked at me with a haunted face, such as belongs to one who
thinks he has seen a spirit.
“Spare me,” he faltered; “do not ruin me. God knows I have tried to do
my best!”
I waved him off. “Leave me. You have nothing to fear.” He turned away
with his white face, and departed in silence with his men.
After a long sleep Edith waked again. She said nothing. I did not
wish her to speak. She lay awake, yet with closed eyes, thinking such
thoughts as belong to one, and to one alone, who had known what she had
known.
I did not speak to her, for she was to me a holy being, not to be
addressed lightly. Yet she did not refuse nourishment, and grew
stronger, until at last I was able to have her moved to Quebec. There I
obtained proper accommodations for her and good nurses.
I have told you what she was before this. Subsequently there came a
change. The nurses and the doctors called it a stupor.