"True," said the priest--"too true; the last shadow of hope is gone. We
must now make as much of the time as possible. Leave the room for a few
minutes till I anoint her, I will then call you in."
They accordingly withdrew, but in about fifteen or twenty minutes he
once more summoned them to the bed of the dying woman.
"Come in," said he, "I have anointed her--come in, and kneel down till
we offer up a Rosary to the Blessed Virgin, under the hope that she may
intercede with God for her, and cause her to pass out of life happily.
She was calling for you, Peter, in your absence; you had better stay
with her."
"I will," said Peter, in a broken voice; "I'll stay nowhere else."
"An'I'll kneel at the bed-side," said the daughter. "She was the kind
mother to me, and to us all; but to me in particular. 'Twas with me she
took her choice to live, when they war all striving for her. Oh," said
she, taking her mother's hand between hers, and kneeling-down to kiss
it, "a Vahr dheelish! (* sweet mother) did we ever think to see you
departing from us this way! snapped away without a minute's warning! If
it was a long-sickness, that you'd be calm and sinsible in, but to be
hurried away into eternity, and your mind dark! Oh, Vhar dheelish, my
heart is broke to see you this way!"
"Be calm," said the priest; "be quiet till I open the Rosary.
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