When the day comes--if the day comes--that you need or feel
you need the sustainment of my presence or the devotion of my heart,
no power on earth save that of death itself, shall keep me from your
side. Till that day arrives I remain what you have made me, a bride
who lays no claim to the name you this morning bestowed upon her.' And
with a gesture that was like a benediction, she turned, and
noiselessly, breathlessly as a dream that vanishes, left the room.
"Sirs, I believe I uttered a cry and stumbled towards her. Some one in
that room uttered a cry, but it may be that it only rose in my heart
and that the one I heard came from my father's lips. For when at the
door I turned, startled at the deathly silence, I saw he had fainted
on his pillow. I could not leave him so. Calling to Mrs. Daniels,
who was never far from my father in those days, I bade her stop the
lady--I believe I called her my wife--who was going down the stairs,
and then rushed to his side. It took minutes to revive him. When he
came to himself it was to ask for the creature who had flashed like a
beacon of light upon his darkening path. I rose as if to fetch her
but before I could advance I heard a voice say, 'She is not here,'
and looking up I saw Mrs. Daniels glide into the room.
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