By the window sat the mother and daughter, with oppressed hearts,
looking out upon the leaden sky and the misty gusts that swept
across the gloomy landscape. Sad and silent, we have said, they
were. Now and then they gazed into each other's faces, and the lips
quivered as if words were on them. But each spirit held back the
fear by which it was burdened--and the eyes turned wearily again
from the open window.
At last, Fanny's heavy heart could bear in silence the pressure no
longer. Hiding her face in her mother's lap, she sobbed out
violently. Repressing her own struggling emotions, Mrs. Markland
spoke soothing, hopeful words; and even while she sought to
strengthen her daughter's heart, her own took courage.
"My dear child," she said, in a voice made even by depressing its
tone, "do you not remember that beautiful thought expressed by Mrs.
Willet yesterday? 'Death,' said she, 'signifies life; for in every
death there is resurrection into a higher and purer life. This is as
true,' she remarked, 'of our affections, which are but activities of
the life, as of the natural life itself.
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