'Lihu's soul; but
before all the preliminary steps had been taken, and the men and youth
noiselessly ingathered, Mr. 'Lihu's breathing had ceased, without a
parting pang or gasp, and the tide was at its full.
Harvey had been standing with a group near the door. Once at some
irrelevancy in the proceedings, while the women were organizing the
prayer-meeting, I heard his irrepressible little giggle creeping in; but
when the words so mysteriously uttered were passed out to him--"Lihu's
gone!"--the poor boy, realizing only at that instant their terrible
meaning, that his father had indeed gone, gone away from him forever, ran
forward a pace or two, and then fell, with his face to the ground.
So he lay, shaking and sobbing helplessly.
Grandma Bartlett, standing in the door, studied him for some moments with
her fossilized eyes:--
"Fatherless and motherless, now," said she. "Poor creetur, humph! Vary
sahd."
Then she blinked, and, simultaneously, the subject seemed to have slipped
from her mind, and she to have become vaguely contemplative concerning
worlds and ages remote.
The boy was still lying prone on the ground, when I left the place of
mourning with Grandma and Madeline.
Pages:
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261