' You'll stay by me till it's all over, won't
you?"
Madge was deeply agitated, but she managed to say distinctly, "Tilly
also said something to me, and I want you to think of her words
through all that is to come. She said, 'Think where I have gone, and
don't grieve a moment.'"
"Yes, I'll come to that by and by; but now I can think of only one
thing--they are going to take away my baby;" and she laid her head
on the still bosom with a yearning in her face which only God, who
created the mother's heart, could understand.
What followed need not be dwelt upon. The mother and father took their
last farewell, the casket was carried to the outer room, the simple
service was soon over, the tearful tributes paid, and then the slow
procession took its way to a little graveyard on a hillside among the
mountains.
"I can't go and see Tilly buried," said Mrs. Wendall, in the same
unnatural whisper. "I will go to her grave some day, but not yet. I
am trying to keep up, but I don't feel that I could stand on my feet a
minute now."
"I'll stay with you till they come back," Madge answered, tenderly;
and at last she was left alone in the house, holding the tearless
mother's hand. She soon bowed her young head upon it, bedewing it with
her tears.
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