"Lord, Lord, please to take me along with my child. We were but two! two
orphan sisters! I have grown gray in taking care of her! She cannot do
without me, nor I without her! We were but two! Why should one be taken
and the other left? It is not fair, Lord! I say it is not fair!" raved
the mourner, in that blind and passionate abandonment of grief which is
sure at its climax to reach frenzy, and break into open rebellion
against Omnipotent Power.
And it is well for us that the Father is more merciful than our
tenderest thoughts, for he pardons the rebel and heals his wounds.
The sorrow of the young man, deepened by remorse, was too profound for
such outward vent. He leaned against the bedpost, seemingly colder,
paler, and more lifeless than the dead body before him.
At length the tempest of Hannah's grief raged itself into temporary
rest. She arose, composed the form of her sister, and turned and laid
her hand upon the shoulder of Herman, saying calmly: "It is all over. Go, young gentleman, and wrestle with your sorrow and
your remorse, as you may. Such wrestlings will be the only punishment
your rashness will receive in this world! Be free of dread from me. She
left you her forgiveness as a legacy, and you are sacred from my
pursuit. Go, and leave me with my dead."
Herman dropped upon his knees beside the bed of death, took the cold
hand of Nora between his own, and bowed his head upon it for a little
while in penitential homage, and then arose and silently left the hut.
After he had gone, Hannah remained for a few minutes standing where he
had left her, gazing in silent anguish upon the dark eyes of Nora, now
glazed in death, and then, with reverential tenderness, she pressed down
the white lids, closing them until the light of the resurrection morning
should open them again.
While engaged in this holy duty, Hannah was interrupted by the
re-entrance of Herman.
He came in tottering, as if under the influence of intoxication; but we
all know that excessive sorrow takes away the strength and senses as
surely as intoxication does. There is such a state as being drunken with
grief when we have drained the bitter cup dry!
"Hannah," he faltered, "there are some things which should be remembered
even in this awful hour."
The sorrowing woman, her fingers still softly pressing down her sister's
eyelids, looked up in mute inquiry.
"Your necessities and--Nora's child must be provided for. Will you give
me some writing materials?" And the speaker dropped, as if totally
prostrated, into a chair by the table.