Beulah - Page 96/348

She looked at him vacantly an instant, and whispered, under her

breath: "He is not dead?"

He did not reply, and, with a frightened expression, she glided into

the chamber of death, calling piteously on the sleeper to come back

and shield her. Beulah would have followed, but the doctor detained

her.

"Not yet, child. Not yet."

As if unconscious of the act, he passed his arm around her

shoulders, and drew her close to him. She looked up in astonishment,

but his eyes were fixed on the kneeling figure in the room opposite,

and she saw that, just then, he was thinking of anything else than

her presence.

"Are you going home now, sir?"

"Yes; but you must stay with that poor girl yonder. Can't you

prevail on her to come and spend a few days with you?"

"I rather think not," answered Beulah, resolved not to try.

"You look pale, my child. Watching is not good for you. It is a long

time since you have seen death. Strange that people will not see it

as it is. Passing strange."

"What do you mean?" said she, striving to interpret the smile that

wreathed his lips.

"You will not believe if I tell you. 'Life is but the germ of Death,

and Death the development of a higher Life.'"

"Higher in the sense of heavenly immortality?"

"You may call it heavenly if you choose. Stay here till the funeral

is over, and I will send for you. Are you worn out, child?" He had

withdrawn his arm, and now looked anxiously at her colorless face.

"No, sir."

"Then why are you so very pale?"

"Did you ever see me, sir, when I was anything else?"

"I have seen you look less ghostly. Good-by." He left the house

without even shaking hands.

The day which succeeded was very gloomy, and, after the funeral

rites had been performed, and the second day looked in, Beulah's

heart rejoiced at the prospect of returning home. Clara shrank from

the thought of being left alone, the little cottage was so desolate.

She would give it up now, of course, and find a cheap boarding

house; but the furniture must be rubbed and sent down to an auction

room, and she dreaded the separation from all the objects which

linked her with the past.

"Clara, I have been commissioned to invite you to spend several days

with me, until you can select a boarding house. Dr. Hartwell will be

glad to have you come."