"Will not you go to bed? Mother will come to you there," said Jock
to his sister, who was still quite white and tearless.
"Please not," was her entreaty. "Suppose they sent for me!"
He did not think they would, but he let her sit in the dark by the
open window, listening; and he put his arm round her, and said,
gently—-
"You are much honoured, Babie. It is a great thing to have held so
pure and true a heart, not for time, but eternity."
"Don't, Jock. Not yet! I can't bear it," she moaned; but she laid
her head on his shoulder, and so rested till he said—-
"If you can spare me, Babie, I think I must see to Armie. He seemed
to me terribly overcome."
"Armine has lost his very best and dearest friend," she said,
pressing her hands together. "Oh yes, go to him! Armie can feel,
and I can't! I can only choke!"
Jock apprehended a hysterical struggle, but there only came one long
sob like strangulation, and he thought the pent up feeling might
better find its course if she were left alone, and he was really
anxious about Armine, remembering what the loss was to him, that it
was his first real grief, and that he had had a considerable share of
the first shock of the alarm.
His soft knock was unheard, and as he gently pushed open the door, he
saw Armine kneeling in the dark with his head bowed over his prayer-
desk, and would have retreated, but he had been heard, and Armine
rose and came forward.
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