"And Becky, she wa'n't much brought up, and used to be as
wild and harum-scarum as any of 'em; but I allus said that there was a
good deal to Becky, after all. Wall, George Olver, he recognized where
she was and he went down thar' and found her, and they wa'n't anybody
ventured to say a word, and what need? for everybody respec's George
Olver, knowin' he's uncommon ser'ous and high-minded; and the very same
hour they came home, Becky, she come up here, and she turned me right out
of the room, as ye might say. 'It's my place, Grandma,' says she, 'and
I'm better able than you. I understand. It's my place.' And she wa'n't
vary strong, but she wouldn't give up to nobody, and only run home a
little while between spells to rest, and watched and tended ye as
faithful as though she was keepin' count of every breath; and when the
fever turned a Monday night, and you fell off into a kind of a natural
sleep, the doctor, he says to her, what it ain't a very common thing for
a doctor to say: 'It's you saved her life!' he says. 'She was vary sick.'
And he shook his head the way they do. 'You've tended vary faithful,' he
says; and Becky, she hardly spoke, but I seen when she looked up that her
eyes was a shinin', and that happy look that she's had somehow, sence she
came back--I can't tell ye exactly, teacher, but it's most like as ef
somebody should have a bad dream, and be wakin' up kinder surprised and
thankful--but when the doctor said them words, I'll never forget how her
eyes went a shinin', and she says to me, 'I'm goin' home now, and never
you tell her, when she wakes up, for she thought it was you watchin' with
her all the time, and kep' a callin "Grandma! Grandma!" says she; 'and
don't you tell her! don't you; for it would seem as though I was obligin'
her, and if she forgives me and is friendly I don't want it to be for
that,' And I didn't say as I should or shouldn't tell," said Grandma,
smilingly unconscious of the two large tears that were stealing down her
cheeks; "but I knowed pretty well what I had on my mind!"
Grandma ceased speaking, and began to busy herself about the room,
humming softly her favorite refrain:--
"The Light of the World is Jesus.
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