Beulah - Page 268/348

"What availed all her inquiries, and longings, and defiant cries?

She died, no nearer the truth than when she began. She died without

hope and without knowledge. Only death could unseal the mystery,"

thought Beulah, as she looked at the marble face and recalled the

bitterness of its lifelong expression. Persons began to assemble;

gradually the rooms filled. Beulah bent down and kissed the cold

lips for the last time, and, lowering her veil, retired to a dim

corner. She was very miserable, but her eyes were tearless, and she

sat, she knew not how long, unconscious of what passed around her.

She heard the stifled sobs of the bereaved parents as in a painful

dream; and when the solemn silence was broken she started, and saw a

venerable man, a stranger, standing at the head of the coffin; and

these words fell upon her ears like a message from another world: "I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord; and he that

believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and

whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die!"

Cornelia had not believed; was she utterly lost? Beulah asked

herself this question, and shrank from the answer. She did not

believe; would she die as Cornelia died, without comfort? Was there

but one salvation? When the coffin was borne out, and the procession

formed, she went on mechanically, and found herself seated in a

carriage with Mrs. Asbury and her two daughters. She sank back in

one corner, and the long line of carriages, extending for many

squares, slowly wound through the streets. The wind wailed and

sobbed, as if in sympathy, and the rain drizzled against the window

glass. When the procession reached the cemetery, it was too wet to

think of leaving the carriages, but Beulah could see the coffin

borne from the hearse, and heard the subdued voice of the minister;

and when the shrouded form of the only child was lowered into its

final resting-place, she groaned, and hid her face in her hands.

Should they meet no more? Hitherto Mrs. Asbury had forborne to

address her, but now she passed her arm round the shuddering form,

and said gently: "My dear Beulah, do not look so hopelessly wretched. In the midst of

life we are in death; but God has given a promise to cheer us all in

sad scenes like this. St. John was told to write, 'From henceforth,

blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for they rest from, their

labors.'"

"And do you think she is lost forever because she did not believe?

Do you? Can you?" cried Beulah vehemently.