."

"No, Mary, 'twere Bob," he answered.

"I feels 'tweren't, but if 'twere 'tis th' Lard's will, an' 'tis our
duty t' be brave an' bear up. Tis hard--rare hard--but bear up,
Richard--an' bear un like a man. Remember, Richard, we has th' maid
spared to us."

And so, heart-broken though she was herself, she comforted and
encouraged him, as is the way of women, for in times of great
misfortune they are often the braver of the sexes. Her husband did not
know the hours of wakeful uncertainty and helplessness and despair
that Mrs. Gray spent, as she lay long into the nights thinking and
thinking, until sometimes it seemed that she would go mad.

Bessie, gentle and sympathetic, was the pillar upon which they all
leaned during those first days after the dreadful tidings came. It was
her presence that made life possible. Like a good angel she moved
about the house, unobtrusively ministering to them, and Mrs. Gray
more than once said,

"I'm not knowin' what we'd do, Bessie, if 'twere not for you."

After a week of silent despondency the father roused himself to some
extent from the lethargy into which he had fallen, and returned to his
trail. The work brought back life and energy, and when, a fortnight
later, he came back, he had resumed somewhat his old bearing and
manner, though not all of the buoyancy. He entered the cabin with the
old greeting--"An' how's my maid been wi'out her daddy?" It made the
others feel better and happier; and he was almost his natural self
again when he left them for another period.

The report of Bob's death did not appear to affect Emily as greatly as
her mother feared it would. She was silent, and took less interest in
her doll, and seemed to be constantly expecting something to occur.
One day after her father had left them she called her mother to her,
and, taking her hand to draw her to a seat on the couch, asked:

"Mother, do angels ever come by day, or be it always by night?"

"I'm--I'm--not knowin', dear. They comes both times, I'm thinkin'--but
mostly by night--I'm--not knowin'," faltered the mother.

"Does un think Bob's angel ha' been comin' by night while we sleeps,
mother? I been watchin', an' he've never come while I wakes--an' I'm
wonderin' an' wonderin'."

"No--not while we sleeps--no--I'm not knowin'," and then she buried
her face in Emily's pillow and wept.

"Bob's knowin', mother, how we longs t' see he," continued Emily, as
she stroked her mother's hair, "an' he'd s