undless mercy has gently
laid me down to die here at your side, your hand in mine, your
words of love in my ears; they will follow me to the last, and
'When my failing lips grow dumb--when thought and memory
flee,' the consciousness that you are near me will remain, and
I shall die as I have lived--no, no, not as I have lived--my
life has been dreadful, and my death is not."

She hid her eyes with her thin transparent hands, and a slight
contraction for an instant wrinkled her brow. The vision of
past sufferings had risen up before her; she remembered what
she had gone through and trembled. But as she turned towards
Edward the expression of mute anguish in his face affected her
suddenly and deeply. She threw her arms around his neck, and
cried, "I would stay if I could, Edward, but it is too late;
the spring is broken, the light is quenched: we must part for
a while."

"O God! O God!" murmured Edward, as he clasped his hands in an
agony of grief and supplication. "Thou didst give her to me,
and I cast her away from me. I was blind and had no mercy; now
I see, and my misery is complete. Thy ways are just, but Thy
judgments are dreadful!"

"But in the midst of them, my own, He remembers mercy. He has
tried us. He has proved us. He has marked out for each of us
our way to Heaven. Mine is short, for He saw my weakness.
Yours may be long and arduous, for He knows you strong; but
both will meet in the end. With one Lord, one Faith, one Hope,
I die. With the same Lord, with the same Faith, with the same
Hope, you will live. There is a blessed communion, in which we
both believe, between those who rest in Heaven, and those who
struggle on earth. You will pray for me when I am gone; I will
pray for you where I go. At the altar, think of me, as if
kneeling mysteriously at your side. Give me a secret chamber
in your soul, where my spirit may meet yours, when you retire
from the world to commune with God and be still; and when
death comes at last to you, as it is now coming to me, think
of this hour, think of one so sinful and so weak, passing with
a strength not her own, through its dark portal in peace, and
God be with you then, my beloved, as He is now with me."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Her prayer was heard in the hour of trial; when he lost all
earthly hope, and felt himself of all men the most miserable,
God was with him. When, two days later, she murmured in his
ear, as he was supporting her head against his br