"You are very
tired," he said, and his voice was like a caress. "Not in body, but in
mind--and heart. I wish, by some magic, I could secure for you two full
hours' sleep before--the hour."
"I couldn't sleep. But I am strong, I shall not break down."
"No, you will not break down; that wouldn't be like you. And
to-night--you shall sleep. I promise you that."
"I wish you could," Charlotte said, and her lips trembled ever so
slightly. "But I shall not."
"You shall. Trust me that you shall. I know a way to make you sleep."
However that might be, she thought, his presence was now, as all through
this ordeal, the thing which stood between her and utter desolation. A
few hours later, when he stood beside her at the place which was to
receive that which they had brought to it, she felt as if she could not
have borne the knowledge that she was laying away her only remaining
kinswoman, if it had not been for the sense of protection which, even at
the supreme moment, he managed to convey to her. Her hand, as it lay
upon his arm, was taken and held in a close clasp, which tightened
possessively upon it, minute by minute, until it was as if the two were
one in the deep emotion of the hour.
All the beauty of spring at her tenderest was in the air, as the little
party turned slowly away, in the light of the late afternoon sun.
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