After resting a few minutes, Sir Tom said:--
"Me lady Laura, do you mind that prayer song, the second verse?"
Laura's voice was sobbing and uncertain as it quavered:--
"Other refuge have I none,"
but it gained courage and persuasiveness until it filled the room and
the heart of the man with,--
"Cover my defenceless head,
With the shadow of Thy wing."
A gentle smile and the relaxing of closed hands completed the story of
our loss, though the real weight of it came days and months later.
It was long before we could take up our daily duties with anything like
the familiar happiness. Something had gone out of our lives that could
never be replaced, and only time could salve the wounds. The dear man
who had gone was no friend to solemn faces, and living interests must
bury dead memories; but it was a long time before the click of Jane's
hammer was heard in her forge; not until Laura had said, "It will please
_him_, Jane."
CHAPTER LVIII
BACTERIA
January, February, and March passed with more than the usual snow and
rain,--fully ten inches of precipitation; but the spring proved neither
cold nor late.
Pages:
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407