put her hand on his forehead--for his narrow bed stood quite close to
hers--and said softly: "On earth you have no father any more, my child,
but above in heaven there lives a Father who will not forsake you. I
have given you long since to Him. I know He will care for you and
protect you, so I can go quietly and joyfully. Yes, my good Marianne,"
she turned again to the latter, "I have done a great wrong; I have hurt
deeply the best of fathers through disobedience and selfishness. For
that I have suffered much; but in my suffering it was permitted me to
learn how great the love and compassion of our Father in heaven is for
His children, and since then a song of deepest gratitude sounds ever and
ever in my heart:

"'I lay in heaviest fetters,
Thou com'st and set'st me free;
I stood in shame and sorrow,
Thou callest me to Thee;
And lift'st me up to honor
And giv'st me heavenly joys
Which cannot be diminished
By earthly scorn and noise.'"

The sick woman had folded her hands while she spoke, and in her eyes
there was a wonderful light; but now she sank back on her pillows,
exhausted and pale. Marianne stood there quietly and now and then had to
wipe her eyes.

"But now I must run to the doctor,--it is high time," she said,
frightened. "Mrs. Dorn, can I give you anything?"

"No, I thank you," the sick woman answered softly. "I thank you for
everything, my good Marianne."

The latter now hastily left the house and ran as fast as she could
through the silent night toward Lower Wood. From time to time she had to
stop to get her breath. Then she looked up to the bright star-covered
sky and prayed: "Dear God, help us all." She had great difficulty in
awakening the doctor in Lower Wood at two o'clock in the night; but at
last he heard her knocking and followed her soon after on the road to
her house. When they entered together the room of the sick woman, the
light had burned down and threw a faint light on the quiet, pale face.
The mother had stretched out her arm upon the bed of her child. The boy
had encircled her slender, white hand with both his plump hands, and
held it firmly. The doctor approached and looked closer at the sleeper;
he bent over her for some moments.

"Marianne," he said, "loosen the hand out of the little boy's. The woman
is sleeping her eternal sleep, she will nevermore awaken on this earth.
She must have died suddenly from heart failure, while you were away