UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

"
"Pray
0
"
it's
112 UNCLE TOM S CABIN : OR,
" "
"
Marie, roused by the entance of the doctor, There she lay, robed in v-ne of the simplewhite
appeared,hurriedly, from the next room.
dresses she had been wont to wear when living ;
' '
Augustine ! Cousin ! ! what ! " she hurriedly
the rose-coloredlightthroughthe curtains cast
began.
over the icy coldness of death a warm glow. The
"Hush !" said St. Clare,hoarsely;
she is dying
heavyeyelashesdroopedsoftly pure cheek ,
! " the head
.
was turned a little to one side,as if in
Mammy heard the words, and flew to awaken natural sleep,but there was diffusedover every
the servants. The house was soon lineament of the face that
roused,"
highcelestial expression,
lights were seen, footsteps heard,anxious faces that mingling of rapture and repose, which
thronged the veranda,and looked tearfullyshowed it was no earthlyor temporarysleep,but
throughthe glass-doors ; but St. Clare heard and
said nothing, he saw onlythat look on the face
of the littlesleeper.
"
"
"
"
the long,sacred rest which " He givethto his
beloved.""
There is no death to such as thou,dear Eva!
"
0, if she would and onlywake, once speak neither darkness nor shadow of death such
; only
more !" he said ; and stoopingover her,he a spoke brightfading as when the morningstar fades
"
in her ear, Eva,darling in the goldendawn. Thine is the victory The largeblue eyes unclosed, a smile passed the battle, the crown without the conflict.
over her face ; she triedto raiseher head,and
to speak.
"
Do you know me, Eva?"
"
Dear papa," said the child,with a last
effort, throwingher arms about his neck. In a
moment theydroppedagain; and, as St. Clare
raised his head,he saw a spasm
of mortal agony
had had questionsasked,and answered them ;
pass over the "
face,' she struggled for breath, theyhad asked him when he would have the
and threw up her littlehands.
funeral,and where theyshould lay her ; and he
"0, God, this is dreadful!" he said,turninghad
answered, impatiently, that he cared not.
away in agony, and wringing Tom's hand, scarce Adolph and Rosa had arrangedthe chamber;
conscious what he was doing. "0, Tom, my volatile,fickle and childish, as theygenerally
boy, it is killing me !"
were, theywere soft-heartedand full of feeling ;
lom had his master's hands between his own ; and, while Miss Opheliapresided over the general
and,with tears streaming down his dark cheeks, detailsof order and neatness,it was their hands
looked up for help where ,he had always been
used to look.
that this maybe
Clare," "
this wringsmy heart."
cut short!" said St.
"0, bless the Lord! it's over,
over,
dear Master !" said Tom ; " look at her."
The child laypanting on her pillows,
as one
the exhausted," largeclear eyes rolled up
and
fixed. Ah, what said those eyes, that spoke so
"0, Eva,tellus what you
see ! What isit?"
said her father.
A
bright, a
"
"0! and she said,brokenly,
peace!"gave
one sigh, and passedfrom death
unto life! " '
"
Farewell,beloved child! the bright,eternal
doors have closed after thee ; we shall see thy
sweet face no more. 0, woe for them who
watched thy entrance into heaven,when they
shall wake and find only the cold, gray sky of
dailylife,and thou gone "forever ! "
CHAPTER
XXVH.
So did St. Clare think,as, with folded arms,
he stood there gazing. Ah ! who shall say what
he did think? for,from the hour that voices had
said, in the dyingchamber, " she is gone,"it had
been all a drearymist,a heavy " dimness of
anguish." He had heard voices around hm ; hB
that added those soft,poetictouches to the arrangements,
that took from the death-room the
grim and ghastly airwhich too often marks a New
Englandfuneral.
There were stillflowers on the aU
shehos,"
white,delicate and fragrant, with graceful, drooping
leaves. Eva"s littletable,covered with white,
bore on it her favorite vase, with a singlewhite
moss rose-bud in it. The foldsof the draperyțhe
much of heaven'! Earth was past, and earthlyfallof the curtains, had been arrangedand rearranged,
pain; but so solemn,so mysterious, was the by Adolph and Rosa, with that nicety of
triumphantbrightness of that facețhat itcheeked eye which characterizes their race. Even now,
even the sobs of sorrow. They pressed around while St. Clare stood there thinking,littleRosa
her,in breathlessstillness.
trippedsoftly into the chamber with a basket of
"
Eva," said St. Clare,gently.
white flowers. She stepped back when she saw
She did not hear.
St: Clare,and stoppedrespectfully ; but seeing
that he did not observe her,she came forward to
"
placethem around the dead. St. Clare saw her as
glorious passed over her face, in a dream, while she placedin the small hands a
fair love," joy,"
cape jessamine, and, with admirable taste,
disposedother flowers around the couch.
The door openedagain, and Topsy, her eyes
swelled with crying," appeared,holdingsomething
under her apron. Rosa made a quick,forbidding
gesture; but she took a stepinto the room.
"
You must go out,"saidRosa,in a sharp,positive
whisper; " you have n't any business here !"
"
0, do me let ! broughta I flower, such "
pretty one !" said Topsy,holding up a half-blown
tea rose-bud. " Do let me putjustone there J"
"
Get along !" said Rosa, more decidedly.
"Let her stay!" said St. Clare, suddenly
stampinghis foot. " She shall come."
"this is the last OF EARTH." John Q.
Rosa suddenlyretreated,and Topsy came forward
The statuettes and picturesin Eva's room were
and laid her offering at the feet of the
shrouded in white napkins,and only hushed corpse ; then suddenly, with a wild and bitter cry
breathings and muffled foot-fallswere heard there, she threw herself on the flooralongside the bed,
and the lightstole in solemnlythroughwindows and wept, and moaned aloud.
partially darkened by closed blinds.
Miss Opheliahastened into the room, and tried
The bed was draped in white; and there, to raise and silence her ; but in vain.
beneath the droopingangel-flgure, lay a little "0, Miss Eva ! 0, Miss Eva ! I wish I 's dead
"deeping form -rsleeping,
never to waken !
I do !"
too,"