He was quick to catch her meaning and bowed his head in token that he
understood; then, raising his hand above her head, as though in
benediction, in broken tones he slowly pronounced the words,-"'Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself:
for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy
mourning shall be ended.'"
Her face brightened; a seraphic smile burst forth, irradiating every
feature with a light which never faded, for, with a look of loving
farewell into the faces of husband and son, she sank into a sleep from
which she did not wake, and when, as the day was breaking over the
eastern hill-tops, her soul took flight, the smile still lingered,
deepening into such perfect peace as is seldom seen on mortal faces.
As Darrell, a few moments later, stood at the window, watching the stars
paling one by one in the light of the coming dawn, a bit of verse with
which he had been familiar years before, but which he had not recalled
until then, recurred to him with peculiar force: "A soul passed out on its way toward Heaven
As soon as the word of release was given;
And the trail of the meteor swept around
The lovely form of the homeward-bound.
Glimmering, shimmering, there on high,
The stars grew dim as one passed them by;
And the earth was never again so bright,
For a soul had slipped from its place that night."
After Mrs. Britton's death, deprived of her companionship and of the
numberless little ministrations to her comfort in which they had
delighted, both Mr. Britton and Darrell found life strangely empty. They
also missed the strenuous western life to which they had been
accustomed, with its ceaseless demands upon both muscle and brain. The
life around them seemed narrow and restricted; the very monotony of the
landscape wearied them; they longed for the freedom and activity of the
West, the breadth and height of the mountains.
As both were standing one day beside the resting-place of the wife and
mother, which Mr. Britton had himself chosen for her, the latter said,-"John, there are no longer any ties to hold us here. You may have to
remain here until affairs are settled, but I have no place, and want
none, in Hosea Jewett's home. I am going back to the West; and I know
that sooner or later you will return also, for your heart is among the
mountains. But before we separate I want one promise from you, my son."