The cottage was but a small place, and Brandon determined to have
Langhetti conveyed to the Hall. An ambulance was obtained from Exeter,
and on this Langhetti and Edith were taken away.
On arriving at Brandon Hall Beatrice found her diary in its place of
concealment, the memory of old sorrows which could never be forgotten.
But those old sorrows were passing away now, in the presence of her new
joy.
And yet that joy was darkened by the cloud of a new sorrow. Langhetti
was dying. His frail form became more and more attenuated every day, his
eyes more lustrous, his face more spiritual. Down every step of that way
which led to the grave Edith went with him, seeming in her own face and
form to promise a speedier advent in that spirit-world where she longed
to arrive. Beside these Beatrice watched, and Mrs. Thornton added her
tender care.
Day by day Langhetti grew worse. At last one day he called for his
violin. He had caused it to be sent for on a previous occasion, but
had never used it. His love for music was satisfied by the songs of
Beatrice. Now he wished to exert his own skill with the last remnants of
his strength.
Langhetti was propped up by pillows, so that he might hold the
instrument. Near him Edith reclined on a sofa. Her large, lustrous eyes
were fixed on him. Her breathing, which came and went rapidly, showed
her utter weakness and prostration.
Langhetti drew his bow across the strings.
It was a strange, sweet sound, weak, but sweet beyond all words--a long,
faint, lingering tone, which rose and died and rose again, bearing away
the souls of those who heard it into a realm of enchantment and delight.
That tone gave strength to Langhetti. It was as though some unseen power
had been invoked and had come to his aid. The tones came forth more
strongly, on firmer pinions, flying from the strings and towering
through the air.
The strength of these tones seemed to emanate from some unseen power;
so also did their meaning. It was a meaning beyond what might be
intelligible to those who listened--a meaning beyond mortal thought.
Yet Langhetti understood it, and so did Edith. Her eyes grew brighter, a
flush started to her wan cheeks, her breathing grew more rapid.
The music went on. More subtle, more penetrating, more thrilling in its
mysterious meaning, it rose and swelled through the air, like the song
of some unseen ones, who were waiting for newcomers to the Invisible
land.
Suddenly Beatrice gave a piercing cry. She rushed to Edith’s sofa. Edith
lay back, her marble face motionless, her white lips apart, her eyes
looking upward. But the lips breathed no more, and in the eyes there no
longer beamed the light of life.
At the cry of Beatrice the violin fell from Langhetti’s hand, and he
sank back. His face was turned toward Edith. He saw her and knew it all.
[Illustration: LANGHETTI DREW HIS BOW ACROSS THE STRINGS.]