It is always so with those
whom death is about to divide. The agony is unequally distributed,
falling heaviest on the one that remains behind. If the separation were
for years, and both were healthy and hopeful, very often the positions
would be reversed; but--whether it be that bodily weakness blunts the
sharp sense of anticipated sorrow, or that, to eyes bent forward on the
glories and terrors of the unknown world, earthly relations lessen by
comparison--you will find that with most, however impetuous it may have
been in mid-channel, the river of life flows calmly and evenly just
before its junction with the great ocean stream. Besides, the dying girl
had suffered so much of late that the present change left no room for
other feelings than those of unalloyed happiness, and the words of love
murmured into her ear brought with them a deeper delight than when she
heard them for the first time from the same lips.
Both were so engaged with their own thoughts and with each other that
they never noted how the narrow space of time allotted to them was
vanishing, rapidly as the last dry islet of sand when the spring-tide is
flowing. They never heard the footsteps, more impatient at every turn,
sounding from the room beneath, where Cyril Brandon paced to and fro.
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