d that George was dead, he believed it impossible that any one
should mourn the child as he did in his heart.

Oliver himself took something from the chest--carefully and reverently;
and carefully and reverently he put it back before night. There was a
Bible, in Dutch; and with it a Prayer-book. He carried these, while
Ailwin carried the body, wrapped in cloth, with another piece hanging
over it, like a pall. As Oliver took Mildred's hand, and saw how pale
and sorrowful she looked (though quite patient), he felt how much need
they all had of the consolations and hopes which speak to mourners from
the book he held.

Ailwin did not understand Dutch; so Oliver thought it kindest and best
to say in English what he read, both from the Bible and Prayer-book. He
read a short portion of what Saint Paul says about the dead and their
rising again. Then all three assisted in closing the tomb, firmly and
completely; and then they kneeled down, and Oliver read a prayer for
mourners from his book. They did not sing; for he was not sure that
Mildred could go through a hymn. He made a sign to her to stay when
Ailwin went home; and they two sat down on the grass above the bank, and
read together that part of the Scripture in which Jesus desires his
followers not to let their hearts be troubled, but to believe in God and
in him.

Mildred was soon quite happy; and Oliver was cheered to see her so. He
even began, after a time, to talk of the future. He pointed out how the
waters had sunk, leaving now, he supposed, only about three feet of
depth, besides mud and slime. This mud would make the soil more fertile
than it had ever been, if the remainder of the flood could by any means
be drawn off. He thought his father might return, and drain his ground,
and rebuild the house. Then the bank they sat on would overlook a more
beautiful garden than they had ever yet possessed. The whole land had
been so well _warped_ (that is, flooded with fertilising mud) that
everything that was planted would flourish. They might get the finest
tulip-roots from Holland, and have a bed of them; and another of choice
auriculas, just below George's tomb; and honeysuckles might be trained
round it, to attract the bees.

Mildred liked to hear all this; and she said so; but she added that she
should like it better still to-morrow, perhaps. She felt so strangely
tired now, that she could not listen any more, even to what she liked to
hear.

"Are y